Two goals precariously scored in the last fifteen minutes by junior defender Robert Yeo allowed DV Men’s Varsity to triumph 3-2 over Monte Vista on Feb. 5, but the results were flipped in DV’s game against Dublin on Senior Night, Feb. 7. Oakland Technical’s forfeit of the following Saturday conference game allowed the Wildcats to enter playoffs.

As soon as the whistle blew, Monte Vista pounced on an opening in DV’s defense and attempted a shot on the goal that fell flat. Both sides were on the offensive as soon as the game began. In the midst of repeated close, yet unsuccessful shots on goals and rebounds attempted by both sides, MV managed to score a goal.

During the second half of the game, Monte Vista continued to block DV players from passing to one another, dribbling the ball forward near the penalty box several times, though DV was able to intercept it on several occasions. However, any attempt to move towards Monte Vista’s goal was unsucessful as the other team continued to pressure DV’s defense in order to attain an attempt to score. With a close tie until the very last seconds of the game, Yeo scored the winning goal, ending the game 3-2.

Yeo said, “Honestly, it was kind of crazy. It didn’t even feel like I scored. I thought I tied the game and it turns out that we won it.”

DV JV soccer coach Julio reflected how “the boys fought for every single goal —  especially that last one. We kept pressing—we kept pressing in and a goal was eventually going to fall in, and we finally got that third one.”

The Wildcat versus Gaels game started with a shot on the goal by Dublin that missed only narrowly, soaring over the top of the goalpost. Despite DV’s continuous offensive efforts, the team was pressed to defend against Dublin, who relentlessly intercepted DV’s passes and made consecutive attempts at the goal. Following a series of passes that wove past the Wildcat’s defense, Dublin made the first goal twenty minutes in. Not even three minutes later, however, junior defender Ryan Motta successfully reflected the trajectory of the ball to senior midfielder Hudson Price. Price chipped the ball back to Motta, who passed to Yeo. The defender then scored a shot past the overextended goalkeeper into the corner of the goal.

After the game, Yeo accredited the successful shot to his teammates, saying, “It was a great pass by my great teammate—Mitchell Bryson. [He] hit it over the top. I saw it bouncing. I just took a hit and it went in.”

Soon thereafter, the senior midfielder David Parkin scored another point for DV via a successful team maneouver following a corner kick, pushing the score up to 1-2. Just before the end of the first half, Dublin regrouped attack efforts, of which one made it past DV’s goalkeeper who had misjudged the trajectory of the shoot and failed to prevent it from rolling into   a corner of the net. The first half of the game came to a close with a tied score of 2-2.

After the second kick off, the Wildcats and Gaels struggled to keep the ball in their control long enough to attempt a shot on the other’s goal. Tensions climaxed when player Price rushed to defend against a player from the opposing team and that player tripped over Price’s extended leg. Immediately, the DV player was given a red card by one of the referees to the audible dismay of the observers.

Assistant Coach Sean Zarrabi said, “I’m personally not one that likes to blame the referee but there [were] some questionable calls out there. The red card obviously hurt us as well because they were already outnumbering us swarming us. So the fact that we had to go down a man as well—that only hurt us more.”

Despite being down a player, the Wildcats drove the Gaels back to their side of the field and attempted a shot on goal. Sophomore midfielder Joseph Mamandol executed a pass to senior forward Kirollos Semary, but Semary’s shot on goal was directly caught by the goalkeeper. Almost exactly a minute after, Dublin earned the upper hand by intercepting a defensive block by Semary and kicking the ball over DV’s goalkeeper into the net. In the last few minutes of the game, DV players put forth an effort to raise the score from 3-2 to 3-3, but, besides one shot that missed the goal just narrowly, the Dublin goalkeeper consistently intercepted their shots. Finally, the whistle sounded on the game with Dublin in the lead at 3-2.

The Oakland Technical versus Dougherty Valley game on Saturday, Feb 9 resulted in DV’s win by Oakland’s forfeit. Having made it into playoffs, the DV men’s varsity team faced off with Amador Valley on Wednesday, Feb. 13, which resulted in the Dons’ victory.