Cate’s Soccer Dominates Home Opener 3-0
December 27, 2023
Charlie Dorion ’26
Young Talents Shine as Academy Players Step Up
Your Cate Boy’s Varsity soccer team played their first home game of the season when they hosted the Nordhoff Rangers on a chilly evening on the lower field—playing short-handed due to a combination of players going to Los Ninos and some injuries. We had to summon some young players from our academy (JV team) for much-needed support.
The Rams got on the scoreboard in the first minute of the game when sophomore winger Kiy Barry sent a beautiful one-touch cross from the left side that connected with the head of a streaking junior midfielder, Uriel Beltran Campuzano, to give the Rams an early 1-0 lead.
The visiting Rangers were not able to recover from the early score. When they did attempt to create any coordinated attacks, they were quickly neutralized by the relentless back line led by senior left back Thomas Paige, Junior CB Samuel Anum, and Sophomores Charlie Dorion and Alex Gallegos.
Our midfield quartet of juniors Uri Beltran Campuzano, Max Devore, and sophomores Dimash Anuarbek and Kiy Barry did an excellent job supporting our defense and creating the attack and multiple scoring chances. Up front, the attacking duo of senior Nate Keshen and sophomore George Marin had a field day and harassed the Ranger defense all evening.
Samuel Anum ’25
In the 24th minute, Nate sent a long ball towards the Ranger goal, and George chased it down and picked the pocket of the Ranger CB; he shook off the defensive support and fired off a left-footed rocket that found the back of the net and gave us a 2-0 lead at the half. Minutes before the break, sophomore sensation Quincy Thorne scared the bejeezus out of us when he came out to clear a loose ball while a Ranger attacker barreled down towards him; fearless Q cleared the ball and collided with the attacker, sending him into a summersault and sticking the landing. Fortunately for us, he popped right up as if there was nothing to see.
The second half was the same. We controlled the tempo of the game and extinguished any Ranger scoring chances. In the 55th minute, Kiy got his 2nd assist of the game when the Ranger keeper blocked his shot on goal, and George collected the loose ball and pushed the ball into the net to give us a 3-0 lead. Senior forward Burak Yanar provided some critical minutes off the bench and had great runs to stretch the Ranger defense and free up his teammates. Sophomore Oliver Charvel also contributed vital minutes for us today and the Koh brothers (Nicholas & Nathan) in the last few minutes of the match; the brothers Koh almost “Kohnnected” on a great scoring chance that unfortunately went wide.
We’ll begin league play next Tuesday (12/5) when we travel to Bishop Diego. Big thank you to all of you who supported us today. Until next time……..