With two draws and one loss to start the calendar year, Encinal High’s JV men’s soccer team is picking up form. Before the new year, the Jets were 0-3, scoring none and conceding 14. In their first three games of 2025 they’ve forced two 0-0 draws against Piedmont and San Lorenzo and suffered only one loss (1-0) to Alameda High.
The Piedmont game on paper was their most impressive season result thus far. “I think it was definitely our best game we’ve played so far. “Said Huy Tran (JV coach) I think the kids had the most energy playing in this game and I saw a lot of improvement from our previous games.”
One of the biggest reasons they got the result they did was due to then freshmen JV goalkeeper Finley Collins’ outstanding performance. “Finley was the player of the game for sure,” said coach Tran. “He made a few key saves that kept us in the game. He was also able to get a lot of the long balls Piedmont played and he was able to support the team a lot in keeping our backline higher up.“ In soccer having a goalkeeper that can help lead and support the team when needed can decide the game, especially for a JV team as young as Encinal is.
The team is mostly freshmen and sophomores, with 3 juniors and no seniors. As such, they are still learning how to play with each other and are just now getting comfortable with each other which has been paying off. “I think it’s just a culmination of things,” said Coach Tran. “You know, we’ve been playing with each other for about 5 games now and I think we’re getting more comfortable with each other and that helped lead to the result against Piedmont.“
The Piedmont game served as a stepping stone to their next game against Alameda High. Before that game, this match could have been predicted to be their worst loss of the season. However, going into this game they felt confident and motivated that they could get a good result against them.
The game against Alameda High was a very hard-fought battle that ended in a 1-0 win for Alameda High and a tough loss for the Jets. In the first half of the game, Encinal committed a foul resulting in a penalty kick for Alameda High which was put away by their captain Mateus Penner. From that point on, Alameda had most of the chances. The Jets put on a defensive clinic which was led by stellar overall performances by two freshmen: goalkeeper Adam Meyers and left-sided center half Mason Daon.
Meyers had himself a game. Despite it being his first game being played on JV and conceding a penalty, he was pretty flawless. He made several key saves throughout the game that kept the score close, one of them being a one-on-one, which he blocked with the bottom of his feet. Daon was voted man of the match by his coach and by his teammates for his standout performance.
“For me, Mason was a standout player,“ said, coach Tran. “He did a great job in keeping up our back line and also making sure we’re playing a good off-side trap. He also tracked back really well on the opponent’s runs. He saved us a lot in that game.“
While losing 1-0 in the Island Derby is never ideal, The JV team took the positives from the game. “I’m very proud of what we were able to accomplish on the field,” said JV player Yasar Zarif (Junior). “It’s a tough team to play against, they’ve won the league almost every single year that I’ve played, and it’s just good to know that we can play like that against a team like them and it was definitely a better game than last game we played versus them.” They lost the first game against Alameda High 8-0 so it was definitely a better all-around result.
In their next match versus San Lorenzo, they earned a hard-fought draw but they feel they could’ve done better. “They played well at times, they really did,” said James Murray (JV coach) ”They were hustling. They had energy. But again, it was the execution at certain times that let us down mostly offensively. We had multiple chances to score and we were not clinical enough.” One of those missed chances was a penalty that was saved by San Lorenzo’s goalkeeper.
While their lack of execution in front of the goal cost them a chance at winning the game, the JV team is improving exponentially. Given that they lost the first three games by a combined 14 goals, having two draws in the first three games is a sign that the Jets are growing and getting better as a team. “We can play with almost anybody but there will be teams that will be better, that’s a given,” said JV Coach James. “But we are gaining confidence and we’re gradually improving in the way we play. In the last 3 games, we played well enough to win but we got two draws and one unlucky loss to Alameda. But we’re growing as a unit and that’s what matters.” The Jets have improved tremendously defensively since the start of the season and that’s how they have been able to only concede one in the first three games in 2025.
The JV program has improved a lot since it returned in 2022 after a lengthy absence. The Jets went winless last season and in the season before that, they only managed to win two games. In both seasons they played a minimum of 10 games and in both seasons they never kept a clean sheet (concede none). So far in this current season they’ve kept two clean sheets against two good teams. Overall they’ve been pretty solid at the back they only lack composure in front of goal.
Although the season got off to a rocky start, JV coaches Huy Tran and James Murray are cooking up something special in their first season for Encinal which sparks hope for the future of Encinal soccer. “I’m really excited about our JV program,” said Varsity coach Ajaya Rana.”Our new coaches, Mr Tran and James have been awesome in helping them develop into the team that they are. I’m hoping we can continue to build upon this program, to help lead to a successful varsity program. but I’m just really excited to see how far this JV team can go.”
