Following a hard-fought and long winter season, Northwood boys soccer ended their run strong, winning five consecutive games before losing in CIF semifinals against Desert Mirage High School.
The semifinals game was extremely close, despite the far drive which took a toll on the team, ending with a final score of 2-3. With an early goal within five minutes of the game from junior Ethan Han, Northwood held on to a 1-0 lead until halftime, but later lost three goals during the second half. Near the end of the game, senior Sungho Yun scored a penalty shot but the team was unable to score another to tie the game.
“I’m very proud of the boys for what we accomplished this year,” boys soccer head coach Harry Lee said. “It was sad that we lost in semis, but in the end we can’t forget that we got to that place. They worked extremely hard and they gave it their best until the very end.”
Ending their regular season with a record of 12-6-2, the team qualified for the CIF Southern Section Championships. Following their successes last year winning the Pacific Hills League and reaching quarterfinals, the team moved from Division VI to Division V and made it further into the tournament this season than they have in recent years.
Despite the lack of any substantive changes to their playstyle, varsity players observed a shift in their mindset on the field this year, which contributed to their success in CIF.
“Something that really changed was our attitude towards winning,” boys varsity soccer captain senior Eli Jacobs said. “We got a taste of winning, making it to quarterfinals last year. We understood what it took to win this year, and we wanted to win that much more.”
Although the team ended the season strong, they had a rough start, tying Woodbridge and losing to Laguna Beach at the beginning of their regular season, posting a league record that they felt didn’t reflect their true potential.
The team was hamstrung in the first half of league due to tensions between the players on the field and player complaints about the team, according to Lee. This led to games where the team didn’t communicate well or play cohesively, greatly hindering their performance.
“The team struggled a lot being teammates towards one another,” Lee said. “The only reason why we were able to get so far in CIF was because they finally started to play as a team, be encouraging towards one another, pick each other up and cover each other’s mistakes.”
Although the players themselves contributed to improving their chemistry as the season progressed, they credit Lee with helping them overcome their problems by fostering coordination and teamwork.
“A lot of it comes down to the coach,” Jacobs said. “There were times where we didn’t like each other on the field, but he made sure that we enjoyed our company off of the field and separated our social lives from our soccer lives.”
Lee also mediated conflicts between players, allowing them to reestablish a sense of community and teamwork on the field.
“A lot of us know each other and are close to each other outside of soccer,” Han said. “So, in the end, we have that bond as friends that we were able to bring into the team which allowed us to persevere through the ups and downs of the season.”
