![Benjamin Williams and Reese Sherman, social studies teachers, explain department information a guest. This [open house] was, for me, a great opportunity to meet family in the district that will soon be attending the high school, Williams said.](https://www.utimesonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/DSC_9117-1200x800.jpg)
Going into the 5th game of the season with a 2-2 record the Lions felt optimistic about their looming game against McClure North. Before the game even started the players were blasting music in the bus and singing along but also made time to strategize.
Accounts from starting defensemen Nate Salem, senior, and Carlos Carvajal, head coach, set the expectation for the game.
“Keep the pedal to the medal,” Carvajal said.
At the starting whistle, the star striker for the Lions Aron Amaya, senior, started with a smooth pass back to midfield. Not even five minutes into the game the Lions put a strike into the back of the net off the right foot of #8 Juan Cruz, junior; 1-0 Lions.
Following that goal, the pace stayed slow with multiple back-and-forth opportunities for both teams. And then in the blink of an eye, Amaya broke off and had an open left side; he made one defender miss and booted the Lions’ second goal into the net; 2-0 Lions.
Before the audience could say “Goal!” Amaya had another opportunity. Making defenders miss left and right, he was on his way to his second goal in less than ten minutes; 3-0 Lions.
Any time it looked like McClure North had any momentum our elite defense would shut it down before any damage could happen. After an accidental trip, #13 on McClure North went off with an apparent hamstring injury; however, play continued. This gave McClure North a chance to be aggressive, and retaliate, but that aggressiveness caused a giveaway in their own zone.
Lance Fordyce, senior, took a shot. It was deflected off a McClure North defender then went in. That goal made it 4-0 Lions.
With less than five minutes left in the 45-minute first half, Amaya took a shot from outside the goalie box that landed perfectly in the bottom right corner of the net, leading to his third goal of the night. The U. City bench hyped up for the hat trick of Amaya. Going into halftime, the Lions had a 5-0 lead.
The second half was more of the same. The Lions only conceded four opponent shots all game, half were saved by Casey Beard, sophomore, and the other half were saved by Garner Province, sophomore. The defense was stellar.
Opportunities were hard to come by for both teams in the second half until striker Fordyce got through the midfield and fouled in the box. He was awarded a penalty kick which gave him a 1 on 1 shot to score, and he did; 6-0 Lions.
As the clock ticked down to under a minute McClure North was awarded a corner kick by the referee. Province saved it by throwing it out. The final whistle sounded with 6-0 as the final score.
The players lined up to shake hands. Once they shook the hands of the Mcclure North they ran to the sideline to pose for the fans. A dominant performance from the U. City Lions