New Year, new head coach Isai Cruz took the boy’s varsity soccer team to the valley finals; the boy’s lost the championships 3-2 to Clovis. Cruz and our boys made it possible to get to the Valley finals this year.
Isai Cruz, emotions heading to the finals were, “very exciting, I always knew we could get there.” Cruz stated, “it sucks the way it ended the way it did, but it’s life and part of the game of soccer.” Cruz had said he felt mad, frustrated and upset that they came up short. Cruz has said several things motivated the team but the biggest one was, “a lot of people tried to say that they wouldn’t be there again this year saying that they lost certain players there not going to be as good anymore,” he said that was a really big motivator for all the boys.
Isaiah Valadez, a senior at Ridgeview High School, plays center mid. He felt nervous but he, “shook it off during the game just played it, and didn’t let the moment get too big.” Valadez says, that leading up to the championships was just a lot of hard work from the team staying grounded through the season. Valadez says there were a lot of doubts from many people, but they knew they were capable of taking it all away. They prepared for all of this by, “training hard, staying focused, watching a lot of film and it led us to that point. Valadez expresses that my biggest motivation was, “imagining the other team lifting the trophy I really wanted to lift that plaque.” He wanted to get to the final and win, and not let his opponent get ahead of him.
Valadez’s little brother has inspired him, “knowing that he looks up to me not only as his older brother but as a player is enough motivation to train and play hard. ” Valadez said playing on the Valley final field was like a dream. It was just the energy was crazy, the atmosphere it was all just crazy.” Valadez had also said playing for varsity for the last time was “ sad that it was over bittersweet you can say, and it was very emotional for me. ” His favorite soccer moment was scoring a goal in the D1 finals. It was like a dream.
Valadez ended with, “I would like to thank all my teammates, the staff especially coach Isai gave me an opportunity to play on the squad and to be a captain to something I will always remember, this team has a special place in my heart and nothing is gonna replace that it was an honor to play on this team. ”
