Leonardi's goal lifts Eagles over Bulldogs

Always a good time on a Saturday in January, the annual Crosstown Cup matchup between the boys' soccer teams at Vista del Lago and Folsom High entertained crowds throughout the afternoon and evening at Prairie City Stadium. In the featured nightcap, Vista del Lago's varsity boys' soccer team (9-3-3) defeated Folsom (1-8-1) 1-0 in a game the Eagles dominated in scoring opportunities and to a slightly lesser extent, ball possession. The game's only goal came at the midpoint of the second half off of a corner kick; Matthew Edge providing the assist to defender Joey Leonardi goal. "l received a great ball from Matt; it was perfect," Leonardi said. "It curved right to me on the back post and I was able to get my head on it. It was a nice shot." It was Leonardi third header goal off a corner kick this season. The Eagles had been knocking on the door all night to the point where one had to figure a goal was coming sooner than later, but Folsom keeper Nathan Donat was on his game, making a handful of diving saves that had to frustrate the Eagles. Garrett Veirs, Ryan Anderson, Edge, Logan Callison, Daniel Klos, and especially James Shull were taking shots and playing balls into the box all night only to see Donat swallow them up, deflect them away or have the defense in front of him play the ball away. Folsom's defense, center backs Zachary Dahlbacka and Joshua Ellison and outside backs Hayden Masich and Ethan Pham, felt the pressure all night and were up to the task. "Vista created a lot of pressure and controlled the midfield, giving them solid opportunities," Folsom coach Kevin Fagan said. "We received a tremendous performance from Nathan and our defense held its own. Blake Garcia also did a good job tracking back in support and Hunter Wexler did very well in tucking inside to help prevent a build up. "Our boys have come together and started to gel. We had a lot of opportunities against a very good Vista del Lago team." Vista coach Grant Tyler was happy to win the match. "I felt we played pretty well, but the score line did not justify it," Tyler said. "We should have scored two or three times in the first half, and we had multiple opportunities in the second. The only time Folsom pressured us was when they moved everyone forward late in the game. The win was justified." JV - Folsom 2, Vista 1 A late goal by Folsom's Cole Kurlinski gave the Bulldogs a 2-1 win, as the team improved to 2-2-4 on the season. Breckon Karford's goal gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead in the first half. With about 10 minutes remaining in the game, Vista's Simon Varghese took a pass from a teammate around 40 yards from the goal and took the ball the rest of the way until firing a shot that squeezed by Folsom keeper Alex Rehnvall. Karford then set up Kurlinski's game winner coming about eight minutes later. Ishan Jaggi played in goal for the Eagles. Vista's record dropped to 6-5-2 with the loss. Freshman-Sophomore - Vista 1, Folsom 0 Evan De La Torre scored the game's only goal in the first game of the day, as Vista improved to 3-6-4 on the season. Aidan Hashemi kept all of Folsom's shots out of the net for the shutout. Jesse Gargalikis and Dillon Baker split halves in goal for the Bulldogs, as their record fell to 7-4 on the season.