Clips Men’s Soccer Drop First Conference Game, Bounce Back in Second Game Against Pierce

It continues to be a rollercoaster season for the Clipper Men's Soccer team as they started their West Region journey against a tough Highline opponent before coming home to take on Pierce.

After a heartbreaking draw against Rouge, the Clippers hoped to start their conference season off right against the #2 ranked Thunderbirds. It was a tough task ahead of them but the lads felt confident that they would be able to keep the high-scoring Highline attack at bay.

The Clips fought hard, but only managed three shots on net and were blanked by the Highline defense. Freshman Goalkeeper Wyatt Thornycroft was kept on his toes all game as he managed five saves for the game. Unfortunately for the Clips, two goals managed to sneak on past the defense and Highline rode that 2-0 scoreline until the final whistle.

Overall, the team had a lot of positives to look at. They managed some good chances against a tough opponent, kept a powerful offense to only two goals, and got to see early on what the tone for what's to come in the West Region. The team learned and carried that into their game against Pierce.

"The focus was sticking to our style for 90 minutes," said Head Coach Max Sampson. "Obviously, dropping that result 2-0 and not getting points hurts, but that's a quality team. I think we played well. You can do that in soccer, you can play well and not get points; you can play poorly and win."

The home opener for the conference season went the way of the Clippers; winning by a score of 3-1 for their first three points against a West Region opponent. An early goal by Djibril Corrielus got the lads going in the 5th minute and a fantastic feed from Christian Esquivel Jaskiewicz to Alejandro De La Rosa gave the Clippers the 2-0 lead at the end of the half.

The second half was controlled by the Clippers until an error in the backline led to the only shot for the Raiders, which they capitalized on to cut the lead in half in the 73rd minute. However, just two short minutes later, a stretch pass from Tyler Passey found Alex Canning and he was able to slot it home for the 3-1 result that held up to the end.

"A big part of [the win today] was the sophomores (Alex Canning, Djibril Corrielus, and Tyler Passey). We have a good, strong skeleton," said Sophomore Forward Alejandro De La Rosa after the Pierce game. "Our sophomores really push our freshmen to become better every day. We have to show them that it's a new game, a new level. I think us pushing each other and us guiding them helped us get this win."

The Clippers now focus on next Wednesday's away game on September 10 against Clark.