Team gains another learning experience

Varsity: It was a disappointing start to the game, with the boys struggling to find that drive. The Royals are definitely a second half team, and the crazy weather on Monday night, December 12, did them no favors. Armijo gave one goal away with a poor pass and lack of communication, which gave Bethel an easy goal.

Then, with a well-planned corner kick by Bethel, they scored a second goal on the Royals in the first half. Armijo had moments again where the boys did some great 1-2 pass and move, but sent too many long balls that were just out of reach of the Royals’ offense.

The team had a good chat during second half and came back to much cleaner play with connecting passes and play-to-feet that saw a much better offensive attack. Armijo had several close calls with goals but couldn’t quite get the touch on ball they needed and the Bethel Jaguars were able to take advantage of another slip up to get a third goal to end the game at 0-3.

Armijo has a couple days of practice before their last pre-season game against San Leandro here on Thursday, December 17, so they are going to work on quick, clean give and gos to get muscle memory of movements and then focus on hitting that net from multiple angles and locations.

League note – Food for thought: The losses are hard to take sometimes but playing stronger competition is what teaches the Royals what is needed to work on moreso than playing someone they know they can beat. Many of the League competitors have more “variety” in who they are playing but they all have at least one or two “same game” match-ups as Armijo. In EVERY single shared match-up, the league competitors so far have also lost to the teams the Royals played by either the same score or worse. This is something Coach Flores reminds the Armijo boys when their heads drop. “Yes, you lost. We made some simple mistakes that are fixable and you know that 1 on 1 you were stronger, faster than our opponents. Yes, our stats don’t look the best but look who we are playing. The level of competition you’re going up against is higher than our league competitors’ matchups  and the games they are also losing are the same ones as us. NONE of them have beaten or even tied the same teams you played and battled with. Don’t let a score, a statistic define you.”