Bad half sinks Pioneers
NORTHEAST GLENDALE — As a first-year program, the Glendale Adventist Academy boys’ soccer team has taken advantage of trying various experiments. Their latest experiment came Thursday afternoon against Providence.
In seeking to solidify its transition game and improve on its number of scoring opportunities, Glendale Adventist opted to have more players crowd the midfield. It paid off handsomely.
Glendale erupted for five second-half goals to earn a 5-0 Liberty League victory against Providence at the Glendale Sports Complex.
“It’s just a new formation that we’ve been working on and helping our counter-attacks,” said Glendale Adventist Coach Joe Sanchez, whose team improved to 2-1-2 overall and in league. “We’ve been practicing it a lot lately.
“We are advancing together and things have started to pay off. We’ve been able to get people involved.”
The Cougars got one goal apiece from Jonathan Siguenza, Tyler Silva, Edward Figueroa, Eric Marcondes and Arron Pak to blank the Pioneers (0-3-1, 0-2-1 in league).
Glendale Adventist’s up-tempo pace proved to be too much for Providence to handle.
“They have a bit more in quality players than we do,” Providence Coach Kordo Doski said. “We made some mistakes and we let in some soft goals.
“When you get behind like that, it’s tough to come back.”
Siguenza gave Glendale Adventist a 1-0 lead in the 43rd minute. Providence starting goalkeeper Gevork Arabyan stopped a point-blank shot by Luis Preza, but Siguenza knocked the rebound in.
Silva than made it 2-0 when he directed a 35-yard free kick by Figueroa past Arabyan.
Figueroa extended the advantage to 3-0 on a direct kick in the 64th minute.
“We had to stay patient and keep up our intensity,” Figueroa said. “They got a little tired in the second half and we are well conditioned.
“In the first half, we had some shots, but they weren’t on target. We changed that in the second half. We’ve improved so much from our first game to this one.”
Marcondes scored in the 66th minute to make it 4-0. Pak closed out the scoring in the 75th minute.
“We were able to get our wing to come into the middle of the field,” Sanchez said. “We kept getting more chances. Our conditioning also has a lot to do with it.”
The Cougars and Pioneers will meet against at 3 p.m. Feb. 7 at the same site.