Sunny Hills always seems to have one of the best defenses in boys high school soccer, but the group of defenders that the Lancers put on the field this winter might turn aout to be among the stingiest the school has ever had.
Only twice in 600 minutes of soccer the past month have the Lancers allowed a goal, one of them came on Monday during a 1-1 tie with Valencia in the pool play finale of the Sunny Hills Summer League.
Neither goal, though, has been scored in the run of play with the Tigers taking a 1-0 lead early in the first half off a Levi Williams free kick. The other goal Sunny Hills conceded this summer was off a penalty kick.
“They are playing pretty good. We are a fast team so we will be able to press and double team (during the regular season),” Sunny Hills coach Mike Schade said. “I thought we were a slow team, but I addressed that with our players leading into the summer that I thought our team speed was an issue that we had to fix.”
The Lancers finished pool play at the top of the table and the No. 1 seed heading into Wednesday’s quarterfinals. Valencia finished third.
“Our possession was much better than it has been this summer,” Valencia coach coach Barry Gardner said, “and our defensive shape was better too.”
But Sunny Hills was still able to find some space inside the box in the 12th minute when Kevin Perez redirected a pass from Miguel Tapia inside the far post to even the score. It was the 17th goal the Lancers have knocked during the tournament, giving them a plus-15 goal differential heading into the playoffs.
Twelve minutes later, the Lancers took aim at the far post once again, but Lucas Clarrida stretched out just far enough to turn Sunny Hills’ point-blank shot away. Clarrida finished with five saves for the Tigers.
Valencia, too, had a chance to take a lead into half time, coming within a few inches of the goal in 15th minute when Michael Antonio volleyed a cross to top of the 6-yard box just over the crossbar
