Breakers, Vlahos debuts a success
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Mike Sciacca
Giovanni Vlahos’ first game as head coach of the Laguna Beach High
boys’ soccer team could not have gone any better.
Tuesday at Guyer Field, Laguna paired a potent offense with a
stingy defense and the result was a 5-0 nonleague victory over
Saddleback Valley Christian in the season opener for both schools.
Adam Turbi led Laguna with two goals.
Derek LeBon, Brenden Hexberg and Pablo Ramirez each scored one
goal.
“I feel so proud of the squad for going out there and working hard
for 80 minutes,” Vlahos said. “Even when the score got a bit out of
hand, they kept pushing themselves. Makes a coach really proud.
“It feels great to get the first one under my belt as a varsity
coach but my goal and the goal of the squad is CIF playoffs. We’re
taking it one game at a time and hopefully we can improve day in and
day out.”
Prior to taking over the Laguna program this year, Vlahos served
as head coach at Mira Costa High the past two years, at the
frosh/soph and junior varsity levels.
Before his stint at Mira Costa, he coached girls select soccer in
North Carolina.
Vlahos, born in Greece and raised in Italy, played high school
ball in the United States before getting an offer to play two years
of second division professional soccer in Greece.
“After that, I came back to the University of North Carolina at
Wilmington and played four years of college ball,” he said.
He inherited a Laguna program that went 7-13-2 overall and 3-7 in
Pacific Coast League play last year.
“This year’s squad has four returning starters and three new guys
added to the team,” he said. “It’s kind of hard right now to see what
our strengths and weaknesses are. I do know that I expect only
first-place from these guys, and nothing less. Always reach for the
stars, right?”
Laguna returns to the field today for a 3:15 p.m. home nonleague
match against El Modena.
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