Saratoga News Photograph by George Sakkestad Saratoga battled Monta Vista to a 2-2 tie in the first week of the league season. The Falcons will get back to league action when they return to school after winter break. Falcons stung with loss Saratoga opens league with a loss and a tie By Dick Sparrer The league season didn't exactly start out right for the Saratoga boys soccer team. The Falcons had lost just once in six preseason games, but they dropped a heartbreaking 1-0 to Los Altos in the first game of the year in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. Saratoga battled back to fight Monta Vista to a 2-2 tie in a league match before breaking for Christmas vacation. Goals by Jason Worden and Yuichi Sasada helped the Falcons clinch the tie against the Matadors. Scott Lewis came through with an assist on Sasada's goal. The Falcons will try to get on the winning track in division play when they head to Palo Alto on Jan. 5, 3:30 p.m. Saratoga wrapped up the preseason with shutout wins over San Jose Academy and Gunn in nonleague games. Yuichi Sasada knocked in a first-half goal to lift the Falcons to a 1-0 win over San Jose. Goals by Tomine, Sasada and Dan Morse off assists from Robert Pfeifer, Eric Bickenbach and Doore helped the Falcons cruise to a 3-0 nonleague win over Gunn. The Falcons lost their Lovato Cup opener to Silver Creek 2-1, despite a second-half goal by Naoyuki Honda. Saratoga battled back with a hard-earned 1-0 win over Piedmont Hills. Senior midfielder Per Ekstead broke up a scoreless tie with a goal in the second half. The Falcons ended up fighting Yerba Buena to a 2-2 tie in the tournament's fifth-place game. The Warriors ended up claiming the win on penalty kicks, 5-4. The clubs fought through a scoreless first half, and each team scored twice in the second half. Ekstead scored off a John Couche assist, and Nobuaki Tomine scored the tying goal off an assist from Honda. Saratoga opened the year with a tight 2-1 win over Lynbrook. Sasada scored a first-half goal and Pfeifer knocked in a second-half goal off a Brian Doore assist. In other local soccer action, the Prospect boys opened play in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League by battling Oak Grove to a scoreless tie. The draw left the Panthers 1-3-2 for the year. Prospect recently competed in the Homestead Christmas Cup tournament, and junior midfielder Francisco Martinez earned a place on the all-tournament team. In the tourney, the Panthers dropped a tough 2-1 nod to James Lick, despite a goal by Myles Forman off a Servando Morfin assist. Forman and Morfin are both sophomores at Prospect. Prospect's other two losses have been to area powers St. Francis (2-0) and Bellarmine (3-0). Westmont, meanwhile, beat Santa Clara 1-0, tied Gunderson 1-1 and lost 3-0 to Cupertino, 1-0 to Andrew Hill and 6-0 to Sequoia in early season games. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, December 30, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.