By Francisco Avila

Kenwood hoped to win this game and continue in good form, but Soto produced a masterclass performance on senior night at home ending the game with a 6-2 home victory. 

“I think the main focus was kind of the singular game,” said Soto head coach, Andrew Hess, into how they entered the game following the loss against Little Village and his thoughts on the win overall.

“We wanted to make sure we kind of set ourselves up in a positive direction. This is our last conference game, so we knew that it kind of came down to the wire. We didn’t take care of business against Back of the Yards, so we wanted to make sure we at least go 4-1 and whatever happens with the other games doesn’t matter, as long as we take care of our business.” 

The opening 40 minutes was all for Soto, as the home side put four past Kenwood. 

The Soto striker, Alan Betran, got the party started early on for his side as he scored in three minutes of the game at 37 minutes off a great pass from forward Diego Aguilar. 

“Alan really had a great game, his first varsity game, first goal for varsity, and getting two on that day is pretty special,” Hess said.

Betran didn’t take long to get that second goal as he got his brace in the 23rd minute of play from a tactical play off a corner pass from striker Dave Bahena. 

“I kept it calm, peaceful, humble. My boy, Dave Bahena, number 14, striker. Couldn’t do it without him. His assist, beautiful assist,” said Beltran speaking on his performance and thanks for the second goal. 

“I feel very good, just waiting for playoffs, sectionals, regionals, waiting to win it. I’m so excited to keep it calm, peaceful, so we won’t get overhyped and win as much as possible, score as many goals.”

Aguilar then got on the scoreboard himself when he put in a penalty in the 11th minute, before getting his second right before halftime off a great counter from a header pass from striker Marvin Maquin. The finish gave Soto a 4-0 lead at the half. 

“I had a very good performance. Defenders couldn’t keep up. I can’t always score, so I try to find my teammates. So yeah, it’s just part of the game,” Aguilar said.

“Unfortunately, we lost the last two games. But I can tell you this, it was an easy team. We gave it all. They just outperformed us. But coming back to this game, we knew it was our senior night. We got lucky. So we did overcome a few. And now it’s time to celebrate. First, we got to recover, practice harder, and then give them everything we got. We’re driving through this.”

The second half then started with Kenwood getting one back in the 44th minute and it looked like the momentum was slipping away from Soto.

However, Soto eased its fans’ concerns when midfielder Anthony Espinoza scored to give his team a 5-1 lead in the 48th minute. Maquin then also had a taste of the fun as he scored a beautiful goal from a cross by Max Bravo with 10 minutes remaining to make it a 6-1 lead.

“That goal was special because I was excited to play here because my friends from the last few years are leaving,” said Maquin on how special the goal he scored was because of the occasion of senior night.

“I feel that it was an opportunity that I scored the goal because Bravo lifted the ball very well and I just shot it in with my head. I was very excited because it was the goal I wanted and I celebrated with my family. In the next games we have to work more on the practices and do more passes and keep going.”

Kenwood got their second goal in the closing minutes of a match off a penalty.

“I feel like I could have done way better, just in general. This game was 100% supposed to be a shutout,” said Soto goalkeeper Eduardo Lopez, commenting on the penalty Kenwood scored.

“I could have done better. I’ve been practicing and just in general, I should have because just in his body language, he’s already turned like that. Since he was looking at that side.”

But no matter the second goal, it wasn’t enough as Soto won a great victory on senior night with the final score of 6-2.