When Joel Fumia became the Los Gatos High School boys soccer coach in the summer before the start of the 2022-2023 season, his goal was to get the Wildcats back into the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s De Anza Division.
Mission accomplished.
The Wildcats got promoted into the SCVAL’s top division after winning the lower El Camino Division championship last year.
“The goal was always to get back to the ‘A’ league,” Fumia said. “It’s probably where we should be, where the school should be.”
Despite having a solid group, Fumia knows the Wildcats will have their hands full in the ultra-competitive De Anza, which is headlined by NorCal powerhouse Mountain View along with Palo Alto and Los Altos, a pair of perennial Central Coast Section heavyweights.
“I thought our ‘B’ league (El Camino) last year was still good competitively, but this one top to bottom is more competitive and harder,” Fumia said. “You’re rarely going to see games that are decided by more than one or two goals. Our boys know it’s going to be tough in every single outing.”
How tough? Los Gatos suffered a 3-0 defeat to Los Altos on Jan. 10, dropping its league record to 1-1-1.
“I always tell the guys the goal is to win a league championship, but this is such a tough league,” Fumia said. “If we can just chip away, stay in the mix and stay in the top half of the league, I think we can get in (the CCS playoffs).”
Senior goalkeeper Leon Sarashki has been downright sensational, picking up right where he left off from last season. In last year’s CCS semifinal playoff match against Menlo School, Sarashki made two brilliant saves during the penalty kick shootout that allowed the Wildcats to advance to the Division II championship contest.
“Leon is a big-time keeper and really good,” Fumia said. “I think he’s a top keeper in the area. He’s kept us in games and helped us win games by making big saves. He’s been awesome.”
Fumia has been pleased with seniors Will Morley and Jovian Hayden, who play the critical center back position.
“They’ve been very good,” Fumia said. “They’re two guys who didn’t play a whole lot last year because they had seniors in front of them. But they bring experience and we’ll be counting on them.”
Junior Max Lees and senior Keegan Mctighe are the team’s leading goal scorers and have dynamic playmaking ability.
“Max has picked up where he left off from last year and I expect Keegan to have a good year as well scoring goals,” Fumia said.
The Wildcats’ 3-2 win over Leigh in the season-opener has been the team’s highlight thus far this season. They trailed the Longhorns 2-0 before Lees went off for three goals in the second half, with Pele Arroyo assisting on two of them.
Senior Will Enneking, a defensive center midfielder, and senior Omer Rabin, a right center back, have been solid at their positions, respectively. Another senior, James Niemeyer, plays a key role at defender and in the midfield.
Los Gatos has dealt with some key injuries this season. Arroyo, an attacking midfielder, got hurt in the Leigh game, putting him out for the next five matches. But the biggest setback occurred before the season started when Shlok Shrivastava suffered a torn ACL during a club tournament last May.
“Shlok is probably out for the year,” Fumia said. “He was one of our best—if not our best—player, so that was a huge bummer. But overall, the guys have stepped up and it’s been good to see. They’ve exceeded my expectations based on the factors that we lost a lot of talent, your best player tears his ACL and there’s a lot of unknowns. But they battled, and having a goalkeeper like Leon helps a lot. We’re off to a good start, but there’s a lot of work ahead.”
