By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– The intensity that the Chemeketa Community College Men’s Soccer team was there despite the 2-0 defeat to Whatcom on Saturday afternoon at the Fields at the Capital Futbol Club complex to close out the NWAC Friendlies.
It was a good kind of intensity. The kind of intensity that you would want and hope they build from. A kind of intensity that was awesome to see on the heels of four games in five days, including three games in their last three days.
“Oh, I love it. I love the connection that we have between us. We all grew up together, and we all love playing soccer. It’s something that we wanted to do,” said McKay-grad Sixto Chavez. “We finished the game with high intensity, we’re trying to stick together, work as a team even though we got heavy legs, we still got to put in the work.”
The legs were heavy, but it was a good baseline for the squad points Martin Maldonado for their endurance since it’s only to be up from here. Caiden Hewett scored the lone goal over the two games of the NWAC Friendlies, scoring against Highlind with Josh Vargas collecting five saves in the game on Tuesday.
“We started pretty early… but it’s setting up for success in the future, and this is only the beginning that they’re going to hear of us. We’re coming for the NWAC,” said David Garcia. “We learned to play as a team, pick each other up, and don’t be negative. These teams do have a lot of potential, and I know what we got. We’re a good team. We all grew up with each other, playing club, High School, and honestly, glad to be here.”
“It’s been an eye opener for everyone, not just us. The heavy legs did make an impact, but I feel like if we’re playing like this with heavy legs, we have a lot more and are ready to go,” adds Mikey Garcia.
Chemeketa heads to Centralia on Saturday after a few days off before kicking off NWAC South Region play September 6 at Klamath Community College. The Storms first home league home game will be on September 13 against Lane at Chemeketa Community College.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
