The Albuquerque Academy varsity soccer team unfortunately lost to Eldorado’s team 4-1 on Thursday, September 16, at Academy’s Harper memorial field. The Chargers held up a strong defensive line but unfortunately it wasn’t enough. Many JV players stepped up to fill the role of previously hurt and injured varsity players during this tough game.

Oliver Kumar ‘22 mentioned, “It was a pretty tough game. We had a good first half. Second half, it was harder to get the ball.” Oliver scored Academy’s only goal in the 24th minute after Ethan Saiz ‘23 made an amazing pass. When asked about his goal, Oliver stated, “They have a slow back line and then I just put it in the bottom corner.” Not only did Oliver Kumar have another great game but one of our younger varsity players Evan Chang ‘25 stepped up. Only recently starting to play as left back, he held part of the strong defensive line that this team has, with multiple slide tackles and wins on the ball. “I think we organized well, it’s just that we need to finish our opportunities. We all worked together and had good chemistry,” Evan said about the team’s performance last Thursday.

A lot of JV players were pulled up to play in this tough varsity game. This is because many varsity players are currently recovering from concussions, torn muscles, and fractured arms. With the district play upcoming, Head Coach Kolek says, “I think once we get the guys back healthy, and them seeing this game and having a little bit of rest, they’ll come out with a different spark and hopefully flip a switch.” Many JV players played on varsity for this game such as Ethan Myers ‘26, Jack Brown ‘25, Erik Vazquez ‘25, Maks Giermakowski ‘25, Ben Morgan ‘25, and Felipe Canaca ‘24. Ben Morgan ‘25 stated that playing with varsity was “fast paced, physical, and a lot of fun.” With a shot by Morgan towards the Eldorado goal he says “I played well, I competed, I hustled after the ball. I worked hard, I mean that’s all you can do.” Coach Kolek commented on JV’s amazing efforts towards the varsity game, stating, “I think the younger guys came in and fused exactly what we needed today.” The Chargers won their next game this past Tuesday, 9/21 4-2 over Valley.