Kelly O’Day
Sports editor
The Bluejays boys soccer team posted one of its best seasons in a long time this year, posting three Valley wins and nearly knocking off two top league teams in the last week of the regular season.
So it’s no surprise that senior forward Brian Root was named to the First Team – one vote short of a unanimous selection – and senior goalie Trevor Asmundsen, senior midfielder Riley Sutton and junior forward Devon Annis all picked up Honorable Mention.
“Brian was pretty solid the whole year,” MHS coach Luis Mendoza said. “He improved his skills a lot more than we saw last year. He was a little smarter with the ball, you could see it right away. He’s the type of player that knows where to be, he knows where to play the ball and he knows how to score.
“Trevor came out this year and we didn’t know where to put him. At first I thought he might be a midfielder, but he said he wanted to try goalie. He did amazing there right away so we left him there. He’s the type of player that’s aggressive. He’s not scared to go one-on-one with any player.
“Ever since last year, Riley is the type of player that never stops, never gives up the ball and is always hustling, always aggressive. It was the same this year. He was also a very good player for crosses. His height helps and he knows how to head the ball. The first game with West they ran the ball up the side and crossed it to their taller player. We marked that guy with Riley and it worked really good.
“Devin definitely improved a lot from last year. Last year he didn’t have a lot of ball control. He knows how to use his speed. He was really good at finishing this year. He knows where to put the ball to score.”
Asmundsen tied for the league lead with 104 saves. He had a .707 save % and 3.70 goals-against average.