It was a rough start to the season for the Fountain Hills High School boys soccer team, but head coach Matt Pugliano is hopeful that the Falcons will be able to bring it all together.

Fountain Hills’ first game of the season was against Arizona College Prep on Jan. 19. The Falcons lost that match by a final score of 3-0.

FHHS soccer’s next game was on Jan. 21 against Valley Christian. The Falcons again suffered a loss, this time by a score of 6-0.

The Falcons have two games on the schedule this week. The first was Monday, Jan. 25, against Northwest Christian. The second is this Thursday, Jan. 28, against Veritas Prep.

Pugliano said he was happy with way his team performed against AZ College Prep.

“I thought the first half of the ACP game was great,” Pugliano said. “We were holding our own defensively and had some nice counterattacks. I think we got out of our rhythm in the second half, which allowed ACP to get ahead. We tried to push for a goal, which also opened us up for a couple quick goals. The 3-0 scoreline is not indicative of how the game went, in my opinion. I was pleased with how the boys competed.”

But Pugliano was less thrilled with his team’s performance in their second game.

“The Valley Christian game was on the opposite side of the spectrum,” he said. “We struggled to play together and show any kind of fight throughout the contest. An early goal really put us on our heels and we were never able to get back into the swing of things. I was disappointed by the lack of effort and consistency in our approach.

“We have an extremely tough opening stretch of games this year. As long as we come through it with our heads up, we have a good shot at completing our goals. It’ll be up to the boys, how they want the season to go.”

Despite how the first two games went, Pugliano and his team are just glad to be back on the pitch after facing so much uncertainty that their season would even happen.

“Right now, we are just happy to be able to play the games,” Pugliano said. “We have been practicing for nearly three months, which gets pretty boring. We have got a tough schedule this season, but we’ll take it over not playing. Our goals are the same as always: Win the region, make the playoffs and win our last game.”

With those goals, the team is also working on building up a new offensive plan.

“We are working toward building an attack rather than relying on long balls in order to score,” Pugliano explained. “It has been a work in progress, and we seem to be getting it in practice, but our execution in games has been lackluster. I had an opportunity to get some coaching education in the past 10 months since last season, and that has resulted in a change in our approach. The boys are working hard at adapting, but it takes time.”