LJ b soccer 2, Clairemont 4 - City League opener

Viking junior midfielder Mateo Peniche (11) hustles

after a ball against sophomore Nick Medina of

Clairemont midway through LJ's City League

opener against Clairemont Wed., Jan. 10.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

After struggling through an early first-half scoring drought and going down 1-0 to visiting Clairemont on sophomore Tyler Allen's goal in the 13th minute, La Jolla--playing in the absence of Coach Pilar Flores on a one-game suspension for a player's red card back on Dec. 5--roared back with goals by junior Evan Figueiredo and freshman Nico Bardaro to lead 2-1 halfway through the opening period.

Figgie's goal was a straight-on blast in the 16th minute, while the young, tall Bardaro's was off a header on a corner kick in the 20th minute.

But the Vikings quickly gave  up a pair of goals, trailing going into halftime, 2-1, Wed., Jan. 10, in both teams' City League opener. The opposing goals were by senior Luis Zazueta Felix, in the 23rd minute of the 40-minute first half, and Lukas Fabrega, a sophomore, late in the half, the 38th minute.

The home squad (3-3 overall), with goalie coach Ty Aumann filling in in Flores' absence, gave up a further goal in the second half and went down to defeat, 4-2.

Antonio Lopez, a senior, was the Viking suspended on the red card in a tournament game back in December. His suspension, decided on by CIF, will be for three games. According to sources, CIF is attempting to rein in behavior in boys soccer, which has experienced numerous cases of bad behavior by both players and coaches the last several years.

In fact, La Jolla was kicked out of a tournament two years ago, which led to consequences LJHS took to prevent or minimize the likelihood of further problems.