Jack Moskowitz
sports editor

Freshman left wing Daniel Yi snaked his way past the Paint Branch defense and was able to find the goal, giving the Patriots the 2-1 lead on Oct. 4

The team had an impressive comeback against Paint Branch high school, starting off in a 1-0 hole, but ending the game with a 2-1 win. Paint Branch pushed the ball up the field once the kickoff started. The Patriots were on the defensive, trying not to let any goals get by them. Nearing the end of the first half, the Patriots slipped up on defense having their defenders out of position. Paint Branch squeezed the ball right past the Patriots’ defense giving the stricker an easy goal to chip in past the diving keeper. “The defense was scrambling around and caught at the wrong time out of position, which lead to them getting the easy goal,” sophomore center back Thomas Jezek said.

At second half, the Patriots knew that they had to pick up the pace on offense. Following a good defensive stop, the ball found freshman right wing Sachin Krishna-Rogers. Krishna-Rogers dribbled past center back and passed the ball to sophomore stricker Jeremy Ullman. Ullman then blasted the ball to the lower right corner with the goalie having no chance of stopping it and tying the game. “After I got past the defense it was easy to my teammate wide open near the goal,” Krishna-Rogers said.

With the game tied up at one each, the ball kept going back and forth with neither team gaining total possession. After minutes of fighting for the ball, the Patriots’ midfield was able to take the ball away. The Patriots needed to make this valuable and didn’t want to rush anything. Sophomore stricker Alex Ochman came up with the ball and was able to pass it to Yi. Yi wove his way through the back line of the defense and was able to find enough space to get the shot off.

Yi rocketed the ball to the top left corner just sliding past the outstretched hands of the goalie. The Patriots’ fans were ecstatic with the team having a 2-1 lead late in the game. All the Patriots had to do was to stop the Paint Branch offense from scoring. “After I scored the goal I knew that we all had to be locked in on defense if we wanted to win the game,” Yi said.

The Patriots played Bethesda Chevy Chase on Oct 9. The game ended in a 1-0 loss with the Patriots unable to find their offense. BCC was able to find the back of the net early in the game. They held off the Patriots’ offense for the whole game, not letting anything get by them. “We didn’t have our best performance but I know we are capable of doing more than that,” Ochman said.