Boys soccer wins against West in Bay League game

By Sandor Kopitz
Staff Writer

The Mustangs continued their success against the West Warriors on Jan. 11. The team won its first Bay League game of the season at West, 3-1, and improved its overall record to 8-1-2.

Costa was off to a fast start, scoring two goals within the first half of the game. Senior forward Augie Diaz played aggressively and scored an early goal. Senior forward Charlie Pitts then gained control of the ball in the box and placed it right at Diaz’s feet, giving him a second goal.

“The strikers and mid-fielders have made scoring easier for me all year long by constantly sending me perfect passes, and today was no different,” Diaz said.

The Mustangs were able to score again when Diaz hooked a corner kick into the box allowing senior Joe Valenzuela to strike the ball into the back of the net to give Costa the lead, 2-0.

West scored off a header to trim the lead to 2-1 in the second half. Despite Costa keeping the lead until the end of the game, coach Gary Smith saw where the team could improve.

“Today’s game was a little sloppy. I thought we could have played a little better, but I’m still proud of the win,” Smith said.

A kick high over the middle of the box led senior Mathias Gesser to head the ball into the back of the net to put Costa up 3-1 late in the second half, putting the game away.

“Two of our goals came on set plays, which we work on constantly. It is nice to see what we work on in practice be carried out in the games,” Smith said. “Mathias’ header was great, and Joe’s goal off of that deflection was absolutely beautiful.”

In addition to Diaz’s and Pitts’ contributions, junior goalie Teddy Sampson aided the team greatly with four blocks in the game, contributing greatly to the Mustangs’ 3-1 win.

“We played hard and gave massive amounts of effort. West did have more possessions, but they didn’t do much with it,” Sampson said. “When our chances came, we made moves right away. Our back four did an amazing job keeping us ahead.”

Costa has been on a winning streak moving into Bay League. Their next game is at home against Redondo at 6 p.m. tonight.

“We learned a lot from a good team, and we look to improve off of this victory and to play well in Bay League,” Smith said.

Smith looks forward to the coming games because of the team’s improvements and what it has learned so far from the teams it has competed against.

“A 3-1 win on paper looks good. But we have a lot to work on, and this game really could have been played better,” Smith said.