The Fountain Hills High boys soccer team survived its longest week of the season with a positive record.

The Falcons started their week with a game in Sedona on Jan. 14. FHHS won 5-2.

The second game of the week against Scottsdale Christian Academy on Jan. 16 was also the Falcons’ final home game of the season. Fountain Hills won 5-0.

The last game of the team’s long week was against Pusch Ridge on Jan. 18. FHHS was narrowly defeated, 1-0.

Fountain Hills has two games this week with the showdown against North Phoenix Preparatory Academy already happening on Jan. 21.

The next match is tomorrow, Jan. 24, at Anthem Prep. That match begins at 3 p.m.

Sedona

Head coach Matt Pugliano said going into the match against Sedona red Rock that the team knew it would be up against a tough opponent.

“Plus [it was] a Monday game that was far away from home, which made it that much more difficult,” Pugliano said.

The Falcons came out kicking, though, with Ethan Wilson dribbling past four Red Rock defenders to score the first goal. Sedona answered back minutes later but a rebound goal by Ryan Griggs had FHHS going into the second half ahed by one.

“At halftime, I told the boys we would need at least one more,” Pugliano said. “Caden Collins earned that goal of a penalty kick that he converted just 10 minutes into the half.”

Sedona scored one more goal off a scramble in front of the Falcons’ net, but two more goals from Griggs and Collins sealed the win.

Scottsdale

For their Senior Night game the Falcons faced off against a team that struggled to keep up.

“SCA never truly challenged us, as we were definitely the more dominant team both physically and skill-wise,” Pugliano said.

Still, the team found a way to make the night memorable.

“Senior Night is always a special night,” Pugliano said. “Even more so when the senior captain, Nick Knowles, starts off the scoring by putting away a corner kick from Finn Hudoba”

The Falcons would add four more unanswered goals to their score by the end of the night, with Collins netting a hat trick and Will Eggert scoring the final goal.

Pusch Ridge

The Falcons’ long week caught up to them in their match against Pusch Ridge, according to Pugliano.

“PRCA was able to take advantage of our sluggishness from all our traveling that week,” Pugliano said.

FHHS had some opportunities in the first half of the game to score but were unable to convert. Most of the second half was spent “under siege,” with the Falcons holding Pusch Ridge to just one goal.

“This loss puts us behind the 8-ball, as we need to win out to make the playoffs now with the new play-in game format,” Pugliano said. “We’ll rest up and come back next week to start a new streak.”