One penalty separated the Menlo boys soccer team from being crowned the 2024 CCS Division II champions. It was already the furthest the team had gone at that level of division, and after the game, the whole team — not just the current seniors — felt the weight of their run. The game had a heavy emotional effect on the team. “It was really impactful for me,” senior Reed Sunwoo said. “I thought it really showed how far the team had come and just in terms of wanting this [win] as a collective.”
For assistant coach Eric De La Cerda, the loss showed just how close the team was to reaching its ultimate goal. “Having a zero-zero drawn game and then [the game] coming down to penalties, ultimately it became fifty-fifty. It was really anyone’s game at that moment,” De La Cerda said.
Sunwoo is confident in building off of last year’s success. “I definitely think we can make it back to the same place, and I’m hoping we can even make it farther, whether that’s winning DII finals or making it into a higher division,” Sunwoo said.
De La Cerda also has high hopes for the team this season. “If you look at our trajectory the past three years, we have done nothing but go up,” De La Cerda said. “We have ultimately almost [won the CCS finals]. This year, it’s just a matter of getting to that final push.”
According to De La Cerda, the group of returning players, including senior center back Cameron Rafati and senior midfielder Kieran Vazquez, will have to adjust to a younger team this year. “With a new set of boys coming in, it’s a reset,” De La Cerda said.
Sunwoo believes that filling in the gaps left by last year’s seniors will be a priority this year. “Trying to manage that and finding personnel to kind of cover for that will be really huge, especially in the preseason,” Sunwoo said.
Both players and coaches are looking forward to their annual winter break trip, where they will play a nonleague game at California Polytechnic State University against San Luis Obispo High School. “It will be a great experience. The trip always helps with just the chemistry and getting everyone to start kind of playing together as a team just before the regular season starts,” Sunwoo said.
