The Maywood Academy Nighthawks fell short against the Los Angeles High School Romans, 3-2, on February 13th at Maywood Academy, ending their 2019-2020 season.

The Nighthawk boys soccer team were ranked #9 in the CIF LA City Section Division 3 Championships playoffs. The Los Angeles Romans were ranked #24, but nonetheless, both teams played hard in the play-in game of this bracket.

In the first half, the game was equalized at 1-1 when Alexis Gomez scored for Maywood Academy. During the second half Israel Hernandez scored the second goal  to equalize again at 2-2 for Maywood Academy at the 48th minute. To end the game, LA Romans finished with a one-on-one counter attack.

Josue Mendez, #38 on Maywood’s team, said “My motivation for this season was that it was my last season… it would’ve been great to be CIF champs for the Maywood Soccer Team. In my opinion, I feel like we [are] the better team — I just feel like I could’ve done better for my teammates, [they] deserved better.” 

Though this was the first time Maywood played against Los Angeles in a play-in game, Los Angeles came out victorious and will advance to the first round playing against George Washington Prep on February 19th. This was also the last game for seniors who were able to play, Josue Mendez, Jason Baltazar, Alexis Gomez, Israel Hernandez, Mauricio Rios, Osvaldo Benitez, Bryan Alaniz, Nelson Chicas, Marcos Vinalay, Brian Rivera  and Jonathan Garcia. Unfortunately Joel Huerta, Angel Hernandez, Jonathan Guttierez, Jonathan Garcia were all unable to play due to injuries they picked up during the season.