North Hollywood’s soccer team reflects on its recent success and looks ahead to the upcoming season.
North Hollywood’s boys’ soccer team had a historic season last year, winning the league title for the first time in 13 years. This year, with a new coach once again, the boys share insight on their recent performance, attitudes, and goals for the upcoming season.
Jacob Suh, #18, has been a member of the varsity squad all four years of high school and continues to lead the team as captain in his senior year. As captain, Suh leads the team with his experience, after the 3-1 win against East Valley, Suh reflects, “The performance against East Valley shows how prepared we are. It highlights our strengths and weaknesses, which we learn through practice, prepping us for league.” Diego Guzman, #21, also a senior and captain, weighed in on the opening game. “Although East Valley isn’t the toughest opponent, the team’s morale was boosted after the first win,” Guzman said. North Hollywood has a history of winning games against East Valley, making this opener relatively easy for the squad.
When asked about his outlook for the team’s future, Guzman reflected, “I look forward to seeing this team progress over the next few weeks. Seeing this team get its first win of the season definitely boosts morale and confidence, and with practice, it can only go up from here.” The boys are preparing for two tournaments in December, so maintaining strong team morale will be crucial.
Suh echoed Guzman’s sentiment. “I look forward to defending and winning back to back league champions this season through good team chemistry and the hard work of our coach. With this, we have a very good chance of winning North Hollywood’s first-ever CIF title.” After last year’s strong performance in league play, the team hoped to bring home championship rings, but was eliminated in the first round. This year, the squad is determined to avenge that loss and claim the CIF championship for the first time in school history.
Marco Oliva, last year’s JV coach, has been promoted to varsity coach. “I am excited for this new challenge as varsity coach after being a volunteer and then the JV coach in the first two years working here and with the program. Coming to this school and playing for the team during my time in high school also gives me extra motivation.” Oliva replaced Nicolas Barba as varsity coach in the summer and has worked hard to build relationships with the players through summer practices and by attending all their games last season.
Oliva plans to make adjustments to the squad in light of the departures of last year’s seniors. “I look forward to establishing a team with its own playing style and identity. I want to see all the hard work we’ve been putting in since the summer show up in games.” The three goal-scorers in the East Valley game last year — Jonah Dayan, Anthony Diaz, and Joseph Lanifesta — were all seniors, so the squad will undergo substantial changes.
Oliva also noted areas for improvement after the East Valley game. “I think it showed we have the quality to compete as long as we fix the mistakes we saw against East Valley,” he said. This was the team’s first time on the field together, so mistakes were expected. Some players called the game a learning experience.
In their opening game, a 3-1 victory over East Valley, Suh observed that the team’s pre-season start mirrored last year’s performance. “Although we have a history of beating East Valley every year (last year, 3-0), we still had the mindset to stay focused and give it our all. We can’t afford to be cocky just because a team wasn’t strong last year. In the end, it paid off and gave us a great start to the season,” Suh said. Overall, the team is looking forward to a season filled with many games and, they hope, many victories.
