The Country Day Cavs were defeated by the Futures High School Knights 6-3, in the first game of the playoffs on Tues. Oct 24, ending their season.

Freshman Sunny Sui scored the first goal for the Cavs, followed by two more goals from junior Henry Wilson and senior Ishaan Sekhon in the second half. Senior Derek Taylor saved 7 shots in total in this game. According to Coach George Champayne, seniors Luke Scripps and Derek Taylor played especially well and saved the team in this game. 

Coach Champayne also said that the team did very well against Futures High School, one of the best teams in California.

“We made a comeback, which is impressive. Futures High School is really skilled and we had a chance to tie them up, which shows hard on our team,” he said. 

Champagne expressed that the team can continue working on their ball skills and field play. 

 “We need to start passing the ball around like Futures High did, they had good passes, and we need to start doing that. We need to control the ball more. We probably could’ve worked on a bit more skill, worked on corner kicks and tried to get more throw-ins.”

In this game, the team employed the strategy of utilizing throw-ins and corner kicks to their advantage. 

“We weren’t getting a lot of offense, but if we get a throw-in or a corner kick, it’s in the box and we get a goal. So we tried to work for throw-ins and corner kicks, beat them to the ball, and counterattack,” said Champayne. 

Throughout this game but especially towards the end, there were many complaints from the Country Day spectators about the fairness of the referees’ calls. The stands protested the decisions several times with chanting and booing. 

Coach Champayne said, “This referee wouldn’t give us the calls, they were giving them the calls. Two of them went with the penalty shots, we don’t even understand that one. So the referee was kind of, I don’t want to say bad, but they were inconsistent.”

The Country Day soccer program will continue in the spring season with girls’ varsity soccer.