Calabasas boys’ soccer
team defeated in overtime
By Wayne Harrison
wharrison@theacorn.com

In the end, the Calabasas soccer team proved it could play defense with anybody, but also that it wasn’t the most prolific team offensively.

The Coyotes lost, 1-0, in double overtime against Riverside Poly in a quarterfinal boys’ soccer game played at Oaks Christian High School last week.

"This was a team that had a truly outstanding group of defenders," said Calabasas’ longtime head coach John Reich. "And what we lacked in terms of offense or goal scorers, we more than made up for with really great defense and with set plays that we kept working on and perfecting."

Leading the team in scoring was senior midfielder Ben Van Der Fluit. Warren Doyle, a senior sweeper, was the Coyotes’ second leading scorer.

The defense, along with Doyle, consisted of senior right fullback Michael Stewart, sophomore left fullback Josh Leon and junior stopper Jason Leon. Playing center midfielder was junior Josh Levy.

Reich, the Coyote coach, said all six players mentioned, Doyle, Van Der Fluit, Stewart, Levy and the Leon’s, all play fullback (defense) on their club teams. Aaron Gordon was the team’s senior goalkeeper and Jason Kletzky, a senior midfielder, was the team’s leader in assists due to his long throw-ins.

"We do lose quit a number of seniors, but hopefully we have enough coming back as well as people up from the JV," said Reich when asked about next year. "We’ll look a little bit different next year only because of the shift in positions."

Josh Lee will be back after playing a lot of fullback as a junior this season as well as alternating at midfield.

Two JV players this year were actually transfers who weren’t eligible to play varsity but should help next season offensively. Brian Mione is a junior who transferred from Chaminade, so he’ll be back as a senior, and Carlos Anaya, a sophomore, can play midfield or striker.

"It was a 14-win JV team and they were the offensive catalysts," Reich said of Mione and Anaya.

The Coyotes had won their first two playoff games in overtime (one actually went to penalty kicks after a four-overtime tie) which set up the game with Riverside Poly. The loss vs. Riverside Poly came in large part, said Reich, because of a second-half injury to his defensive stalwart, Doyle.

"He pulled his hamstring and from the moment he (Doyle) went out, the game really shifted over because he was such an integral part of everything that we were doing," Reich said.

The Coyotes ended the season at 18-5-5 overall.

"The really beautiful thing, in all honesty, was the fact that these kids really fought till the last possible second," said Reich. "And you can’t help but be proud of them—they gave it everything that they had."