This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

BOYS SOCCER: Palo Alto Blanks Milpitas in CCS Opener

Vikings impress on the road; advance to Saturday's quarterfinal round.

Palo Alto 2, Milpitas 0

The Star: Palo Alto senior forward John Richardson burst through the middle of the field and cranked a hot shot towards the Milpitas net. Only a spectacular stop, one of several on the night for Milpitas High keeper Zach Ebright, prevented the Paly striker from breaking up the scoreless tie four minutes into the second half of play. A minute later, Richardson scored off a penalty kick shot to put his team ahead,1-0.

Junior James Maa also added a tap-in rebound goal in the final minute of play to double the Paly advantage, helping the visitors move on to Saturday’s Central Coast Section Division I quarterfinal round.

Find out what's happening in Palo Altowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Turning Point: All even going into the half, Palo Alto came out with some renewed vigor in the second 40 minutes. Playing with some extra gusto to their game, the Vikings quickly opened up the field and starting applying some heavy pressure towards the Trojans net. A costly hand ball call in the goalie box against Milpitas set up the game’s first goal. Richardson took the penalty shot and buried it into the top left corner of the cage.

The Quote: “We had our chances to score, but we couldn’t make the most of our chances early,” Palo Alto senior John Richardson said. “We had a good halftime talk. Getting to and winning the second ball was important for us. We were able to get control of the game and convert on some chances after the half.”

Find out what's happening in Palo Altowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 Palo Alto will face a familiar opponent on Saturday afternoon in No. 3 seed Menlo-Atherton.

 “They (M-A) play really well in the middle,” Richardson said. “They pack it in really tight in the middle. We will have to attack on the outside against them if we want to be successful.”

 What's Next? Palo Alto, the No. 6 seed in the Division I bracket, will square off against No. 3 seed Menlo-Atherton (13-3-2) on Saturday. The game time and venue has not been determined yet. M-A defeated Paly 2-0 in non-league play.

Bottom Line: Paly stayed the course and used its superior size in the midfield to control the ball and the pace throughout. Milpitas’ speedy forwards didn’t make their usual impact because they couldn’t keep hold of possession for long enough to hurt anyone. Richardson, Skyler Felt and Josh Totte all made a major imprint on the front line for the Vikings. Paly will need a similar showing from its big three in order to spring an upset on Saturday in the quarters.

—————————

 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?