A lackluster first half performance might have kept the Fountain Hills High School boys soccer team from securing a win this past week.

The Falcons were originally scheduled to play Wickenburg on Dec. 12, but that game was canceled.

To make up for the cancellation, Fountain Hills picked up a match against Coolidge on Saturday, Dec. 14. The Falcons went on to lose the match, 3-2.

This week the Falcons have their last regular match of 2019. It was held on Dec. 17 against Northwest Christian.

Coolidge

Head coach Matt Pugliano said that his team did not start the Coolidge match with their best foot forward.

“I thought we went into the match with a good game plan, but lack of effort and cohesion proved to be our undoing,” Pugliano said. “We struggled to play with any energy or passion for the first half and ended up going into halftime down 1-0 after a ricochet snuck into the goal.”

Pugliano said that he talked to his team at the half about playing with more passion and working together as a team. The talk seemed to help.

“We came out on fire,” Pugliano said. “The boys combined right off the second half kickoff for a goal 13 seconds into the half, as some great passing led to a superb cross by Finn Hudoba and an excellent finish by Savion Boone. The team continued to fight and would be rewarded with another goal once again from a cross by Finn Hudoba, this time put into the net by Ryan Griggs.”

The Falcons lost the lead, though, after allowing a one-on-one situation that tied the game. Coolidge would then go on to score the game-winning goal off of a corner kick.

For Pugliano, it was a tough loss.

“To say I was disappointed by the result would be a gross understatement,” Pugliano said. “As I told the boys after the game, we have this tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot every year with a game like this, where we play down to our opponent rather than dominating in the way we can. The good thing is we have another game this week and we’re ready to move on and work hard to win that one.”