Sit – Stay: Falcons Soccer Tame Bulldogs

By Alan Der Ohannessian

The Falcons boys varsity soccer team tamed the Bulldogs 6-2 in a blowout win on Friday, Jan. 21 at Burbank.

After coming off a comfortable win against Arcadia, the Falcons were looking to extend their winning streak. They were successful after cruising past Burbank 5-1 in their opening match.

CV scored in the early minutes through a free kick by Forward Pavle Atanackovic whose shot swerved past the right side of the Bulldog’s goalkeeper Ryan James Tiegs.

Just minutes later CV extended their lead. Defender Robin Kum’s throw-in found Atanackovic for a header between the Bulldogs defenders and past the goalkeeper. However, the Bulldogs fought back and scored to cut down the lead to one. Falcons goalkeeper Nick Ruiz punched out a free kick by Burbank’s Michael Brian-Alcaraz but defender Giancarlo-Gamboa got the rebound and put it back for Bulldog’s first goal.

Perhaps seeing how it could end, the Falcons shook off their sluggish defense and responded with another goal of their own. Midfielder Jaehoon Jung got a pass inside the penalty box, putting it with his left foot to the left side of the goalkeeper for a 3-1 lead.

Despite being down and the rejuvenated Falcons defense, the Bulldogs managed another shot on goal. Midfielder Tadeh Anbarchian corner kick found defender Ramon Antonio Cortes for a header but it went over the post as they went into halftime down by two.

Things only went worse for the Bulldogs In the second half.

CV midfielder Vahe Nalbandian, who didn’t play in the previous match, shot 25 yards away from the goal but it struck wide to the left side of the goalkeeper. Fortunately, his aggressive stance paid off minutes later when he found Eric Kesheshian inside the penalty box whose shot struck to right side of the goalkeeper giving the Falcons a 3-goal lead.

The Falcons scored again when Salar Hajimirsadeghi passed to Atanackovic inside the box, surprising the goalkeeper by striking to his upper left side. He was expecting a diagonal shot from the right side of field for the Falcons’ fifth goal.

The Bulldogs managed a consolation goal when midfielder Christian H. Garcia was fouled inside the penalty box by the Falcons defender. Goalkeeper Ruiz guessed wrong as Maxwell Joseph- Trautmann struck to his left side cutting the lead to three.

The Falcons sixth and final goal came when forward Ray Abghary found midfielder Nalbandian wide whose shot 25 yards from the field struck the upper middle part of the goal for a 6-2 lead.

Head Coach Kiel MCclung said the key was getting up early on and praised the overall teamwork.

“In the last two games we started quickly and got early goals,” he said. “The beauty of our team is we are very talented – if there are situations when we’re missing a player, the team will step up.”