After being eliminated from CCS last year, the boys soccer team came back better than ever. Head Coach Mark Cisneros scheduled his boys to play some of the toughest teams in the state and in the nation for the preseason. “I do that on purpose because we want to enter our respected league battle tested. Once the playoffs come along, we won’t be surprised by the talent that we see,” said Cisneros.

Cisneros felt confident that his team would make it into the playoffs because of the key players who had returned. He was particularly impressed with seniors Jorge Cerna and Adrian Serrato, who were the powerhouses of the offense. Throughout the season, they tallied 23 combined goals. Cisneros said, “Cerna’s work ethic is impressive and his passion for the sport becomes infectious with the rest of the team.” He was also excited about what Adrian Serrato was bringing to the table. “Serrato definitely stepped up this season,” Cisneros said. Serrato was the team’s most experienced returner and Cisneros made him team captain.

The boys went into the preseason with two wins against Seaside and Soledad but fell to Bellarmine and De La Salle in the same week. They finished preseason with a  6-2 record, battle-tested and ready for league.

They opened league play against arch-rival Alvarez. The boys were anticipating a heated match against the Eagles. “Alvarez, just because they’re Alvarez, is always a challenge. No matter how good or how bad their record is, it’s always a difficult game,” said Cisneros. The Trojans defeated the Eagles, 4-2.

The team was tested early against perennial powerhouse Watsonville at Watsonville. Unfortunately, the game ended in a 1-1 tie, setting up a potential showdown later.

That showdown did happen and the Trojans came out victorious, 3-1. Cisneros stated that this was his favorite game by far, “It was the championship win. It was big because they’re nationally ranked. It was big because it clinched the championship for us. It was very exciting.” The win sealed the league title and they ended their season with a record of 9-0-3.

With this record, they entered the Open Division of the CCS playoffs. “The Open Division is the highest possible division in our state. We want to compete at the highest level,” Cisneros said.

The Trojans’ earned the number 2 seed and first round match against Mitty. Unfortunately, the Trojans went down, 2-1, with Mitty making a goal in the last 20 seconds of the game. “We played our best but we just had some bad luck. Mitty was on the better end of the luck. I thought we were going to win CCS,” Cisneros said. He also believes the Trojans would have won the game if they had a higher percentage in scoring. “We had 15 shots on goal and one goal. Mitty only had six shots on goal and scored 2.”

Unfortunately for the Trojans, the road for the season ends here but the future’s still bright for these talented young men. Cisneros is hopeful that the boys will continue their soccer careers with the many achievements they accomplished this year. “The performances throughout the year were incredible. It was consistent, we learned a lot, we matured, we were mentally tough. We got stronger as the season went on and that’s always a good sign as a team but unfortunately, we had a little bit of bad luck in the last game.”