It was a rough break for the Fountain Hills High School boys soccer team, who competed in the Bohdie Larson Celebration Classic over the winter holiday.

The tournament took place over two days with the first match on Jan. 3 against Mesquite. The Falcons lost 2-0.

The second match FHHS played in that day was against Gilbert Classical, which Fountain Hills also lost, 1-0.

The first game on Jan. 4 for the Falcons was against Odyssey Institute. FHHS again dropped the game, 4-1.

The final game of the tournament was against Yuma, which FHHS lost 1-0.

Fountain Hills Boys soccer has two home games this week. The first was Tuesday, Jan. 7, against Horizon Honors.

The second game is on Friday, Jan. 10, against Pusch Ridge. The match will start at 6 p.m.

Mesquite

The Falcons’ first game of the tournament was against a higher division team from Mesquite. Considering the difference between the 2A Fountain Hills and 4A Mesquite, head coach Matt Pugliano said he was happy with his team’s performance.

“We played well, allowing only one goal in each half,” he said. “We were working on finding combinations and holding as a defense, which I thought the boys did well.”

One major setback the Falcons suffered in this game was captain Caden Collins pulling a muscle that would keep him out of the rest of the week’s games.

Gilbert Christian

A mere five hours after their game against Mesquite, the Falcons were back on the pitch giving arguably their best performance of the tournament.

“While we had little energy, the boys fought the whole game,” Pugliano said. “We dominated in terms of possession, but were unable to put a goal on the board. GCA would score on a questionable corner kick just before the end of the first half, which was their only true shot on goal.”

Odyssey Institute

The first game on Jan. 4 was extremely physical, which left the Falcons a little worse for wear.

“This match did not go well for us, as our opponent threw their weight around and beat us up pretty good,” Pugliano explained. “I thought the boys did a decent job of keeping composed despite the lopsided officiating that I thought was going on. Will Eggert scored our goal on a nice pass from Marrec Collins to give us a boost before halftime.”

Yuma

Both Yuma and Fountain Hills had one thing in common, according to Pugliano, and that is that they were both exhausted.

“Yuma would get their goal on some classy dribbling and a 1v1 with the keeper,” Pugliano said. “The boys did an excellent job competing despite the heavy workload of the weekend and pushed Yuma to the breaking point in the last minute.”