It didn’t take long for Saugus boys’ soccer to move on from a couple of negative results to end Foothill League play in 2024.
Playing in the Hart Soccer Showcase in the days following Christmas, the Saugus Centurions steamrolled their way through their three games, winning by a combined score of 19-4.
“I feel like we were coming off of our last couple games where we were a little bit lacking in our creativity and creating opportunities for us, and so that was our big focus for this tournament,” said Saugus head coach Seth Groller. “And yeah, 19 goals in three games is just phenomenal, but we have it in us and it’s an amazing thing when everything kind of starts working and we start that creativeness.”
Saugus had tied West Ranch and lost to Hart in its final two league games before the holiday break.
The final game saw the Centurions best Kennedy, 5-1, at Hart High after the game was tied 1-1 at the half.
Senior Lincoln Fritz had a goal and two assists in that game, including an overhead assist to find fellow senior Santiago Veizaga to put the Centurions ahead in the opening minutes of the second half. Veizaga added an assist when he crossed in a ball from the right wing to find junior Ivan Grgas for the Centurions’ fourth goal.
“Working as a team, finding the space, using the space, movement on and off of the ball, just mainly working together,” Fritz said of what was working in the showcase games.
Senior Colby McKelvey had a goal and two assists.
The final goal was possibly the highlight of the match, a 30-yard long-range belter from sophomore defender Dante Santamaria that had the whole Saugus bench running to celebrate.
“Him just putting in that work and just keeping it going, taking the shot — it’s a good feeling, keeps our energy staying high and just keep pushing through,” Fritz said.
It was the exact response that Groller said he wanted to see after the Centurions were up 2-0 over Hart before conceding five goals unanswered.
“We were kind of in a little bit of a of a lull with the last two games, you know,” Groller said. “We had a 1-0 lead on West Ranch that we gave up the lead and then ended up tying 1-1, and then had a 2-0 lead against Hart that we ended up losing. So, you know, to come off of those two games and then come out and have such a strong showing is great for this push into the next half of league.”
Saugus was one of a few Foothill League squads to take part in the showcase. Hart girls’ head coach Brett Croft said it’s a good opportunity for many teams to stay in shape during the two-week holiday break.
Boys’ teams played Thursday and Friday, while girls’ teams played on Friday and Saturday. All games were played at either College of the Canyons or Hart High in the second year of the showcase since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Overall, the focus for many teams at our showcase is to stay in rhythm and game shape over the holiday season, while having the opportunity to play entire rosters that maybe don’t see as much of the field in league play,” Croft wrote in a text message. “Excited for next year’s showcase.”
Foothill League games are set to resume on Tuesday.
Here’s how the other teams from the Santa Clarita Valley fared at the showcase:
Boys’ soccer
Hart (3-0): Only three goals were scored in the three games involving the Hart Hawks, but all three won a game for Hart.
Hart took down Thousand Oaks, El Camino Real and Palmdale Aerospace Academy, all by 1-0 scores.
Marcos Garza, Bryan Barron and Matt Cole got the goals, with assists recorded by Andrew Zamora and Barron, whose goal came on a late free kick to beat El Camino.
Canyon (1-2): A 1-0 win to start off the showcase didn’t last as the Canyon Cowboys lost their next two games.
Canyon defeated Flintridge Prep, 1-0, with Benton Watkins scoring for Canyon. Kyle Mora and Johnny Mejia combined for five saves in net for the Cowboys.
The Cowboys couldn’t convert in their next two games, falling 2-0 to Van Nuys and 3-0 to San Fernando. Canyon’s keepers combined for 13 saves in those two games.
Girls’ soccer
Hart (2-1): Two wins were sandwiched around a loss for the Hart Hawks.
The Hawks started with a 4-0 win over Taft before falling to Flintridge Prep, 2-1. They rebounded with a 5-1 win over Thousand Oaks.
Croft said he was able to play every player on the roster in the first two games. He added that the response in the final game was good to see as his players “came out like it was a win-or-go-home game” despite the showcase being a round-robin type with no true tournament winner.
Saugus (2-1): Like Hart, the Saugus Centurions won their opener and their final game, but lost the middle one.
The Centurions bested Kennedy, 6-0, before losing to Liberty, 2-0. The final game saw Saugus dominate Taft, 12-0.
Makea Leonard had four goals in the three games while Makeli Leonard had three goals and two assists.
Audrey Smith recorded two goals and two assists, Emily Thompson had a goal and three assists, and Gianna Sandoval and Ashley Pence each scored twice.
Valencia (3-0): The Valencia Vikings could be hitting their stride at an opportune time, taking all three games at the showcase to push their winning streak to four.
Valencia beat Highland, Birmingham and Dos Pueblos by a combined score of 9-2. The game against Dos Pueblos saw Valencia win a nailbiter, 1-0, on a 35-yarder from fullback Dakota Baccelli that head coach Brian Miller said was “a goal worthy of winning any game.”
Kaitlyn Berg and Sofie Fontal each had two goals in the showcase for Valencia. The other goals were scored by Andrea Maya, Sacha Vera, Alyssa Owens and Ella Kirschner.
Canyon (3-0): After shutting out Vaughn in a 4-0 win to open the showcase, the Canyon Cowboys had to fight to finish 3-0.
Lorelai Cabrera scored twice in the win over Vaughn. Chloe Miller and Jilliana DiDomenico scored the other goals.
DiDomenico scored all four in a 4-3 win over Channel Islands.
Krystal Hernandez scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win over Kennedy.
Golden Valley (3-0): The Golden Valley Grizzlies upped their unbeaten streak to seven games after going 3-0 at the showcase.
No goals were allowed into the Grizzlies’ net after beating Fulton, Vaughn and Grant by a combined score of 20-0.
Ava Garcia led the way for the Grizzlies with three goals and four assists, but was nearly matched by Aubrey Esqueda’s four goals and two assists, Ava Eilola’s four goals and two assists and Audrey Tait’s four goals and two assists.
Jadyn Mata had two goals and an assist while Brianna Avila had two goals and an assist. Isabella Ruiz added two assists.
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