The Topper soccer team prepares to take on the Taos Tigers Tuesday afternoon at Sullivan Field. The Tigers are an old foe and the rivalry goes back many years. The Tigers usually field a very strong team, but this year not so much as the Toppers easily won the contest 4-0. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
Christopher Blue and a Taos player battle for control of the ball near the Taos goal line in the first half. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
By RJ Montaño, Sports Editor
Los Alamos Daily Post
rj@ladailypost.com
The Los Alamos (6-1) boys’ soccer team dominated from start to finish en route to a 4-0 final score over the Taos Tigers (0-2- 2) Tuesday afternoon.
The ‘Toppers got off to a slow start offensively, but the game was never in doubt with the strong defensive play from the midfield. “I wasn’t too concerned with [the slow start],” Head Coach Ron Blue said after the game, “I knew the guys would figure it out, which they did. Even with that, [the team] was very precise.”
Junior Arthur Steinkamp had a phenomenal day, scoring a hat trick on the Tigers.
His first goal would come in the 24th minute off some confusion in front of the Taos net making the score 1-0 in favor of Los Alamos. In the 33rd minute, Steinkamp would lose his defender and find the back of the net off a perfectly placed pass from Senior Andreas Runde leading to the 2-0 halftime score.
Stienkamp would return the favor getting an assist in the 60th minute to a goal served up by Runde before scoring his team leading 10th goal of the season in the 66th minute, dribbling between defenders and striking from 25 yards.
“I saw that I could take the kid on, and I saw how the defense moved, so I knew I could attack,” Steinkamp said after the game.
The ‘Toppers were playing without their regular goalkeepers. Senior Jacob Majors is out for the season with an injury. Freshman Jaxson Martines is also out with an injury, but expect to be back in a few weeks. Seniors Cid Rice and Alex Bullock stepped up to the call with each playing a half in the net. Bullock made a spectacular save in the 2nd half to maintain the shutout.
“It was a little stressful at the beginning because you don’t want to make a mistake, but you just have to react and play your game,” Rice said about playing goalkeeper.
“There’s a lot of standing around,” Bullock joked about the great play of the midfield. “I was really happy to make the save and not let my team down.”
Los Alamos has a quick turn-around as they play in the Albuquerque Academy Tournament starting Thursday, with the first game starting at noon versus 6A powerhouse Cleveland High School of Rio Rancho.
Football
Los Alamos (1-1) looks to right the ship against the Pirates of Grants this Friday. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
The Tigers played a strong game on defense. Here #7 Tristan Semelsberger and #5 Christopher Blue battle for the control of the ball. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
Here Arthur Steinkamp scores one of his two goals for the game. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
David Gao takes a serious shot at the goal in the second half, but the ball hit the cross bar and bounced out. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
Cade Cummings works the ball near the Taos goal. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
Levon Wiggins takes control from a Tiger player on the Taos box. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com