The Sunnyvale Sun

Sports

Pumas beat everyone but the weather

By MIKE BARNHART

After going through local AYSO competition and two rounds of tournament play barely scored upon, the Pumas, an under-12 boys soccer team from Sunnyvale, finally met an opponent it could not reckon with--the weather.

After winning the Sunnyvale league championship with a 10-0 record and posting eight more victories during two postseason tournaments, the Pumas met their match at the Sectional Area 2N event, Dec. 9 in Burlingame.

The Pumas won their first game of the day and improved their incredible overall record to 19-0, but Mother Nature took control of the Pumas' second game of the day. For the first time all season, the Pumas were shut out. The game was played mostly in heavy rain and ended 0-0 at the end of regulation time. Because of the stormy conditions, there were no overtimes and no shootout tiebreaker. The wild weather also wiped out the next day's scheduled conclusion of the tourney, leaving the Pumas with a final season record of 19-0-1.

Led by coach Antonio Mendez, the Pumas only allowed goals in five games. Team members were Thomas Arnold, Christopher Brady, Minh Doan, Cole French, Connor French, Tyler Jung, Tyler Kaniuth, Rafael Mendez, Antonio Nunez Saavedra, Eduardo Perez, Owen Price and Alejandro Sanchez.