Varsity: The Royals came out strong Thursday, January 19, with a goal in the first four minutes by senior Captain Diego Torres who dribbled it straight by there defense to sink it to the far side of the net. They kept up the pressure but had a few close calls when they didn’t connect and get first to when it was most needed.

Armijo then did a position switch up that saw a great finish by junior Dawson Le into the back of the net. Sophomore and newcomer to Armijo, David Hernandez was the next to sink a goal after dribbling through half the team.

The last and final goal of the first half and the game was by Le who had received a perfect ball through the Vanden defense from Torres in the last two minutes. Armijo had  a good half-time conversation about a few things to work on and came back ready to do some more work. Vanden, however, stepped up their game and shut down the Royals for the rest of the half and had a couple of near misses of their own.

Armijo had several shots on goal, but either their keeper was able to block, a defender stepped up to get in the way or the Royals missed the goal by a hair. Overall it was a very good game, solid play by both teams and some great saves by both keepers and very little fouling with only a couple of yellow cards.

The Royals take on the last team in this first round, Fairfield, Tuesday, January 24, here at Armijo.

Junior Varsity (JV): Armijo’s boys were looking to bounce back from a tough loss and tie. The pressure started right away, as Isaac Aguirre crossed a ball in for Artemio Perez to score his first goal of the night. The pressure continued as Perez was able to get his second of the night with a good shot passed the goal keeper.

Towards the end of the first half , a penalty was given for Armijo and Perez slotted it in the top right side to complete his hat-trick.

In the second half, Armijo was looking at keeping more possession and creating chances. There was great defensive work by the back like to keep Vanden from scoring. Benjamin Tooley was also able to keep a clean sheet, after having his first ever game in goal.