By any measure, last season will be hard to top, but Palisades High boys varsity soccer coach Dave Suarez thinks his team has the potential to follow the most successful run in program history by doing the one thing last year’s squad failed to do: win its final game.
“The only way to improve on last year is to win the City title,” Suarez said, reflecting on Palisades’ 14-win campaign that ended in a 1-0 overtime defeat to Bell in the Division I final. “It was unfortunate to come so close and not win but it’s good motivation for us to make it back there.”
Maybe it was first-game jitters or the fact that they were playing without five starters, but the Dolphins were dealt a humbling 3-0 loss by Malibu last Friday at Stadium by the Sea and afterwards Suarez didn’t mince words.
“We got out-coached, out-worked and out-played, simple as that,” Suarez said. “Lucas [Wetherby-Jonsson] plays with a lot of them on his premier team, so they’re strong. I can’t pin it on one thing because each goal was a different group’s responsibility.”
Malibu looked sharper from the outset, having already played three games, and Jacob Gooden scored the only goal the Sharks (2-1-1) would need off an assist from his brother Jonah with 10 minutes left in the first half.
Malibu scored twice more in the second half and on the few occasions the Dolphins did apply pressure, goalkeeper Max Watkin made the saves to earn his third consecutive shutout.
“It was a very competitive game,” said Jonah Gooden, who had two assists. “They were playing with a lot of energy at the beginning but as the game went on things opened up and we were able to take advantage of some chances.”
Palisades went back to the drawing board Monday and Suarez is optimistic his team will fare better in Friday afternoon’s Western League opener at Venice.
“We need to get the young guys into it,” Suarez said. “We have more depth but less experience in the back. Fairfax will probably be our biggest obstacle in league — they were young and fast last year.”
While the boys team looked out of sync, the PaliHi girls were clicking on all cylinders in their opener last Tuesday. Caitlin Bremner scored the first goal of the season midway through the first half on a shot just under the crossbar from 25 yards out and she added an assist in the second half of the Dolphins’ 3-0 victory over Notre Dame Academy. Sophomores Lauryn Wilson and Kaitlyn Parcell each added a goal and Annika Lundberg made five saves.
“I know their weaknesses because I know quite a few of their girls and their coach [Manu Appelius] also coaches my Santa Monica United premier team,” said Bremner, who was second on the team in goals last year. “On the goal, Caroline Gluck was running down the line, stopped, gave me a pass back and I just one-touched it.”
The day before their opener, the Dolphins beat defending City champion El Camino Real 1-0 in a scrimmage.
“We felt we should’ve gotten to at least the semis last year,” said Bremner, who is still bothered by the Dolphins’ first-round playoff loss to Chatsworth. “We could be more of an offensive team because we lost a lot of our defense, but we’ll see.”
The girls host Venice tomorrow at Stadium by the Sea (varsity kicks off at 2:30 and junior varsity at 4 p.m.), and play Villa Park next Wednesday in the first round of the Santa Ana Mater Dei Tournament.
“Even though we lost some players, I actually think our defense is better this year,” Inga said. “We have to keep working, but we’re off to a great start.”
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
