The De Anza men’s soccer team snapped a four-game losing streak with a bittersweet 1-1 tie against the West Valley Vikings Oct. 22.

After being on their back feet for much of the game, the Dons took a 1-0 lead late in the second half with a well-constructed counter attack, only to see poor defending and an improbable deflection allowing the Vikings to pull level with six minutes left.

The Vikings demonstrated their superior ball control early in the game by repeatedly passing the ball from their defense through the midfield and into the De Anza defensive third. The Dons’ defense struggled to pass the ball out of their end, limiting opportunities for De Anza attackers.

The Vikings’ best chance of the half came 20 minutes in, after a series of short passes down the right freed Thomas Torres, who unleashed a low line drive from 10 meters out to the right corner of goal, forcing a fine save from De Anza keeper Juan Carlos Saucedo.

Nearing the half, De Anza’s defense tightened up and the offense managed some positive play. In the 32nd minute, Dons’ right back Edgar Lopez brought the ball into the Vikings box but failed to test their keeper when his shot went wide. The Dons manufactured another scoring chance in the 40th minute when a free kick found forward Zeyad Yahia eight meters from goal, but Yahia’s header went over the crossbar.

De Anza resorted to the long ball midway through the second half, hoping to find midfielder Christian Chu in the center circle. Chu’s ability to hold possession gave forwards time to make runs and created several scoring chances that led to the Don’s only goal of the game.

In the 74th minute, Dons midfielder Demba Diallo booted a ball from just outside the Dons’ box to Chu, positioned near the half line. After chesting the ball down, Chu through-passed to Jacob Leedman as he was streaking down the left flank. Leedman dribbled the ball down the sideline before sending a low cross into the middle of the box that found forward Mohammed El Saleh, himself finishing a long run down the right. Saleh, who had subbed in at halftime, shot the ball over West Valley goalkeeper Matt Grosey for his second goal of the season.

“I got lucky. [I] happened to be in the scoring spot, so I got to make the best out of that one,” Saleh said. “That was the plan. Whoever gets the ball, one of us would have to run to relieve some stress from the defense and our mid.”

With six minutes left, Vikings winger Karaman made another run down the left and forced De Anza to concede a corner. An ensuing corner kick led to a Viking pass from the end line going right past the feet of two Dons defenders to the top of the box. An initial shot was deflected and landed at the feet of Vikings forward Torres, who put the ball away from six meters out for his fourth goal of the season.

Dons head coach Mark Landefeld had positive remarks on the team’s effort but lamented letting the game slip away at the end.

“It was probably our strongest team effort this year,” he said. I thought the guys spent a lot of energy. We made smarter decisions then we have in recent games, that helped a lot, but we still left ourselves some room to grow.

“The goal we gave up in the 85th minute was a ball we had a chance to clear out and we missed it, and that’s a mistake that we hope is going to get cleared up by people recognizing the situation and acting with a little more urgency next time.”

STEAL (ABOVE) – Eric Bettencourt (17) steals the ball from West Valley’s Max Marciel (18) during the match Oct. 22. (Alix Metanat/LA VOZ WEEKLY)