Saturday’s afternoon matchup between two of the UPSL’s Premier SoCal south bottom sides Reyes FC and Murrieta Surf, was a match that shows friction of clubs struggling to find their first win in the season. Nonetheless, Murrieta Surf got their first win of the season with a 3-0 performance.
Pre-Game
For Reyes FC, the newcomers to the league find themselves at the bottom of the table before facing Surf. They come to the game with a 0-2 record, scoring only 3 goals and allowing 8. For Surf, they are in a similar form, almost at the bottom of the table, suffered two losses, scored only 1 goal, and allowed 4 in two games.
Game Recap
Note about the recap; the stream did not provide a scoreboard or clock. The game flow from the start till the end was the same; both teams hit back and forth without many chances in the final third. In the first half, Reyes FC had troubles connecting any passes or plays after a turnover or building up a play. For Surf, they did connect passes, press in the midfield, and switched the ball along with various lob passes. They did find their first goal around the 10-minute mark, where they won a free kick 15 yards outside of the net. The surf player curved it over the box, and the Reyes keeper stopped it, but the ricochet finds a surf player to clean the mess and gets Surf up on the board. The rest of the half saw the same game flow as mentioned before.
The second half was a continuation of the first half for the most part. Reyes FC would play kick and chase after a turnover but found not connecting to their target and losing most of their possession to 1v1 situations and standing tackles. Meanwhile, Surf shut down Reyes FC when they got to their final third, which explained why Reyes FC was not in Surf’s box and had less than five chances for the half. It would not be till the final 15 minutes of the match where Surf gets an insurance goal as one of their attackers faced two defenders in the right side of the box and squeezes a shot that pings the post and goes in. Surf penetrated Reyes FC’s defensive gap in the center of their defensive and took control of getting shots on goal. A minute later, Surf doubled their insurance from a 1v1 sprint between the attacker and defender after a headed ball from Surf’s end. The Surf midfielder won the bounce and gave a through pass to the winger, who got three heavy touches on the left side and slots a low slicing shot to make it 3-0.
Post Match
Murrieta Surf gets their first win of the season while Reyes FC is still finding their mojo three games into the season. The match was a slight advantage for Surf, but it was evenly matched, and both teams grinded defensively to make it back and forth for most of the game. Reyes FC stays in the last place, and Murrieta Surf moves up to 5th in the Premier SoCal South table.