Armijo’s Boys’ Soccer has had a tough few weeks with injuries, illness and just tough competition. We had two games in early December, first against Lincoln of Stockton, which saw a loss to both our Junior Varsity (JV) and Varsity teams by 1-2 points.

The second game was against Lodi, who blew both teams out of the water with a 0-7 JV and a 2-6 Varsity loss. The Royals learned a lot from these games, however, on where they need to move players and who could cover what position when some key starters are out.

The games on December 14 against San Francisco International saw some very great play by both teams and the addition of Edwing Saucedo Pacheco to the Varsity roster.

Varsity: It was a great game by both teams, with a hard fought battle the entire game. The first half saw a lot of back and forth and some simple mistakes gave a few close calls to SF, but the Royals held them off. Junior Captain and Keeper Jackson Harrington held off all attempts on his goal and Armijo saw some great distribution from him to the field players to start their attack. The Royals also had several shorts on goal that just missed a mark by multiple different players including Senior Defender and Captain Jorge Rodriguez. The team had a good chat about the few things they needed to adjust and to increase their pressure on ball and player. The Royals saw several more shots on goal and another close call on their own, but were able to get that much needed goal off a foul in the box. Senior and Captain Diego Torres stepped up to the plate to take the PK and sunk it straight by the keeper and into the back of the net. Both teams continued to go strong for the last few minutes of added time for injury but in the end the Royals held out with the 1-0 Win.

JV: The boys were coming off two losses and needed to get things back on track. Freshman Artemio Perez opened the scoring with a nice play down the middle to make it 1-0 in the first few minutes of the game. With more chances up top , freshman Adrian Amador was fouled inside the box for a penalty, which he took to make it 2-0 into the half. Sophomore goalkeeper Abraham Martinez had a great free kick save before the whistle. Armijo started out slow in the second half and a couple mistakes brought SF International back into the game as they scored two back-to-back goals to tie the game. A couple of doubtful calls were made by referees where two penalties were taken away. Armijo kept the pressure on and Perez scored his second of the night and the winning goal to make it 3-2.

Armijo takes on Benicia next on Friday, Decemer 16, at their place and then the Royals have their last preseason game on Saturday, January 7 at Concord HS to get ready for league on the Tuesday, January 10.