Cavaliers goalie Wylan Bouma makes over a dozen saves to shutout Kingsburg in the second half, preserve a 2-1 win
KINGSBURG – Freshman goalie Wylan Bouma fended off a relentless Viking attack to help the Cavaliers hold onto a 2-1 victory.
After ending the first half of their Feb. 2 game against the Kingsburg Vikings up two goals to one, the Central Valley Christian Cavaliers were able to shutout the Vikings in the second half thanks in part to the spectacular play of its young goalie and team focus on defense.
“We’ve been teaching our boys that being on the defensive side of the game doesn’t mean that we’re losing the game,” CVC head coach Santiago Lopez said. “We actually have a good attitude and a good posture on being defensively structured, which is why you saw us weather that storm.”
The Vikings came back from halftime determined to break through the Cavaliers’ defense and come back for the win, but the Cavaliers were ready to stop them. The Vikings dominated possession of the ball for most of the half and sent shot after shot at CVC’s goalie. Bouma made several impressive saves, jumping to catch the ball or knocking it out of the way.
With the Vikings dominating the ball, Bouma was facing shots on goal almost constantly. The CVC coaches don’t track goalie saves throughout the game, but Lopez estimates he made over a dozen saves throughout the second half alone. Despite being a freshman, he took the pressure well.
“It was hard,” Bouma said. “I had to keep my team in check. I had to keep myself in check, pay attention and not get too cocky or screw it up.”
The last time CVC faced Kingsburg, they lost 3-2. They were up 2-0 at halftime and the Vikings came back and scored three goals in the second half to defeat the Cavaliers. After that game, the Cavaliers worked intensely on defensive strategy and attitude in order to not repeat the mistake against another second-half team. That work paid off when they faced the Vikings a second time.
“The boys used to think that us being on the defensive side meant we’re losing the game,” Lopez said. “But obviously, as you can see from the score, the result was a win.”
The Vikings took the lead with one goal just seven minutes into the game. Since the Cavaliers were the visiting team, it might have been easy to take the early goal as a sign to give up, but they only pushed harder, quickly answering with a goal of their own from Bryce Crook. At 23 minutes, Trent Koetsier scored the game winning goal for the Cavaliers. After that, it was just up to Bouma to stop the Vikings from coming back.
“We’ve been focusing on [Bouma] as well training him up mentally and physically,” Lopez said. “And he executed everything we’ve been training him to do.”
The Cavaliers are now 4-2-1 in league play, tied with Exeter and behind Hanford West. Only three games are left in the regular season before the Cavaliers will hope to make the playoffs. Their next opponent will be Bakersfield Christian on Feb. 4.
