Santa Ana, CA — With a chill in the air and a touch of fog, the winter soccer season in Southern California has begun. The Foothill Knights faced off against the Bulldogs of Portola on Monday evening under the lights and Foothill High School. The Knights entered the game with 2 exhibition matches under their belt against quality South Orange County opposition. Foothill tied Santa Margarita (1-1) at SHCHS and tied San Clemente (1-1) at home. Even so, there were still questions left unanswered for the Knights... Foothill reached the CIF finals last year after 39 years and fell short (3-4) to Newport Harbor despite a valiant comeback effort. The Knights graduated 12 seniors last year including the majority of the starting defensive line. Who will stand up and fill the shoes of the 2024 class? The Knights CAN score and they can do so in a hurry. Returning starters Jacob Garcia (senior, captain), Matthew Mendoza (senior), and Garrett Zehner (junior) anchor the attacking line and are joined by Saul Fiallos (sophomore) and Alex Monge (sophomore). Midfield and defensive responsibilities are headed up by Quinn Frye (senior, captain), Brock Chapman (senior, captain), and Miles Teranishi (senior). Frye opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a volley at the top of the 18 yard box off a poor clearance attempt by Portola. The first half finished with Foothill clearly in control and it felt like they would walk away with the game. The second half started quite differently with Portola putting pressure on Foothill and forcing them into s couple of frantic situations. One of which resulted in a forced foul and subsequent free kick outside the 18 yard box for Portola. The Bulldogs converted on the free kick as the cross floated into the far corner of the goal, just 7 minutes into the second half. The Knight answered 2 minutes later in the 49th minute as Zehner converted a beautiful through ball from Fiallos. The scoring was capped off by Mendoza in the 64th minute when Garcia found him on the diagonal while recycling the ball off a failed corner kick. The score could have been way more lopsided but the Knights will need to convert more opportunities and not settle for poor shots and crosses if they would like to have continued success. There is a lot to be hopeful about and we look forward to being tested in our aggressive pre season schedule. We appreciate all of the support! Go Knights!