PLEASANT HILL,CA--- Both the Antioch Panthers and College Park Falcons boys soccer teams kicked off their season Tuesday night, but College Park’s two early goals were sufficient enough to hand them a 2-1 victory.
The game was a tight one until Nathan Vahay scored the Falcons’ first goal of the season, on a volley assisted on a cross by Patrick Bilotto.
Time went on and the game was highlighted by the defensive play on both sides of the field. Most notable was the play of Antioch goalkeeper Nelson Garcia, who made a pair of saves to keep the game at 1-0.
The Falcons, however, extended their lead on a corner kick by senior striker Justin Bedig, who put the ball in play for defender Dylan Ban, who used his leaping ability to head a ball that pinged off the the post for a College Park goal.
“Justin has the greatest corner kick and I feel like he always looks right at me” said Ban. “Early goals like today’s are key for a victory.”
Today’s game marked the debut of College Park head coach Jeremy Bedig, who was assigned the position back in May.
“A lot of emotion and excitement were running through my mind.” stated Bedig, who graduated from College Park in 2011. “We set our goals for the beginning of the game, and I wanted to make sure we were accomplishing those.”
Much like Bedig, opposing Antioch coach Douglas Tirado initiated his career for the Panthers. He brings 18 years of coaching experience under his belt.
“I was very excited for today,” said Tirado. “The boys did very well today and did not give up.”
Tirado also described senior Alan Prado to be the “keystone” of the team. Prado demonstrated that tonight, as he earned a goal for the Panthers off a corner kick that he managed to head into the back of the net.
