AGHS’s boys varsity soccer team played their Senior Night game against Pioneer Valley High School (PVHS) on the night of Feb. 11. Excited parents, JV soccer players, friends, and other fans attended the game to support the Eagles.
Fans brought signs spelling out players names, poster boards of their faces, and lots of cheering to the stadium.
Parents expressed pride and excitement for their kids.
Naomi Neilson, Aiur Piñeiro’s (‘26) stepmother, said, “We are very proud of Aiur [for] the fact that he came [to Arroyo Grande] in the middle of his high school career and started fresh in a new country, with a new language, and new teammates. We’re very excited to see where his future takes him.”
Piñeiro, an exchange student from Spain, is Team Captain of the AGHS varsity team. His passion for soccer comes from his hometown of Basque Country. Piñeiro and other seniors gave speeches before the game, highlighting some of their favorite moments of the season.
Atticus Mackoui (‘26) reminisced on, “Scoring the last goal against PV[HS] [during my] freshman year.”
Emmanuel Palacio’s (‘26) favorite moment was his, “MVP performance by scoring and assisting on his league season debut versus SLO[HS] at [the] Cal Poly Stadium.”
Aaron Torres remembered, “Beating Santa Maria [High School] for [the] league title.”
Goalkeeper Alex Diaz (‘26) talked about, “Saving the last minute penalty versus Santa Maria [High School] in [a] league [game] last season.”
The Eagles started the game without two of their usual starters. While PVHS’s team dominated the first half of the game with two goals, the Eagles came back after halftime hungry for a goal.
Mackoui gave a long range assist to Piñeiro who tapped it in for the Eagles.
The Eagles fought hard the remainder of the game with a series of corner kicks and high pressure on the offensive side.
At the end, they were unable to pull off a win and PVHS defeated them 3-1.
Despite the tough loss, fans applauded the boys and morale remained high. Piñeiro and other boys looked back at the almost-closed season with satisfaction.
“Creo que hemos jugado lo mejor con los pocos jugadores que tuvimos, lo dimos todo. No pudimos hacer nada más, pero hemos jugado bien y dejado todo en el campo,” said Piñeiro as he expressed how well he thought the team did with few players by playing hard and leaving the result on the field.
Piñeiro appreciates his fun times with the team and has aspirations for his future.
“Es un poco triste que acabe pronto, pero tambien tengo muchas ganas de jugar club con mis compañeros de allí y para españa en el verano,” said Piñeiro, sad for the season to end soon but looking forward to play again in the summer with his friends in Spain.
Boys varsity still looks forward to a CIF game that can be found on instagram at @aghsboysoccer.
