Hazen Soccer hit the road Tuesday for the first time and came up with a 4-0 win at Foster.

“Playing Foster is so tough. We beat a very good team tonight,” said Hazen Coach Ken Matthews in a press release.

It wasn’t easy early. It was Hazen, a pass and move team working against a team trying to get the ball to the player at the top, freshman Jalal Haji. Hazen plays a 3-5-2 formation with cover defense so no one defender “mans” a single player.

“We’ve had success with that style. The key is you don’t dive in on that person and everyone is aware what he’s doing,” Matthews said. “We rotated five guys through there tonight and they were outstanding.”

Defenders tonight were senior Angad Singh, senior Eddie Tim, junior Kyle Bunnell, junior Tony Lopez and freshman Diego Betancourt.

But every defense is only as good as the keeper behind them and sophomore goalie Jaime “Chino” Martinez got his second, and Seamount League leading, high school shutout.

“My hat is off to Chino. He started his first high school game as Varsity keeper at Hazen. Talk about walking into a furnace – Hazen boys and girls soccer programs always have great keepers; period. I’ve been told we are known as Keeper High. His game and on field confidence has improved every game,” said Matthews.

Offensively, Hazen clicked when passing and moving. Senior season captain Sam Bunnell got Hazen off to a good start 12 minutes into the game. Freshman midfielder Reyes Garcia chipped a ball over the defense to Bunnell for the 1-0 lead. The lead held to the half.

In spite of the lead, Matthews said he wasn’t happy with the first half and told the team they needed to get back to their game in the second half. “We’re getting to that point where we need to identify the first 11 and then #s 12, 13, and 14 in the rotation for playing time. This league is crazy; everyone’s thinking Tyee is going to win it and Lindbergh beats them 4-0 tonight. You have to put your best team on the field every night,” he said.

The second half again highlighted defensive play, but also improved work in the midfield and offense.

Ten minutes in, senior forward and game captain Marcelo Castro lofted a ball to Garcia who hit the volley for a 2-0 lead. Junior mid Isaiah Blount scored on an assist from sophomore mid Jorman Gonzalez. Then, Bunnell got his second of the night assisted by Castro.

“We continue to show what we are capable of doing. Our guys are trying so hard to do well. I know it is not going to happen to the level I expect every day, but I appreciate what these guys are trying to do more than they’ll ever know,” Matthews ended.

Man of the Match was Reyes Garcia.

Hazen plays Lindbergh Friday at Renton Memorial Stadium.