De Anza men’s soccer defeated the Evergreen Valley Hawks 2-1 in an emotional game on Tuesday, Nov. 7 at De Anza College.

After losing 1-0 in the first half, head coach Rusty Johnson made a strategic shift to gain two goals in the second half.

The game served as the Dons’ sophomore night, in which they honored their sophomore players, who are in their last season of eligibility.

Tensions between the two teams were high, as De Anza seeked revenge for an off-field incident last year, in which an Evergreen Valley player attacked a De Anza player.

In the first half, the De Anza players stood in a 4-3-3 formation.

Shortly after the start of the game, Dons midfielder Fernando Biorato was taken out by a collision on the field. Midfielder Joshua Varon was also simultaneously hurt by aggressive pushing, which resulted in a penalty for the Hawks.

Varon walked off the field with a limp.

The Dons were forced to play along the outskirts of the field in the half, as the Hawks prevented the Dons’ midfielders from delegating the ball and making strategic passes.

Midfielders are the catalysts of new plays, and are responsible for passing the ball out to other team members to start a new play.

Varon returned to the game, but committed a foul in De Anza’s goal box, thus granting Evergreen a penalty kick. Evergreen defender Mario Garcia converted the kick, putting the Hawks up 1-0, which remained the score heading into the half.

Johnson decided to make a tactical change at the half, and shifted the Dons’ formation to 3-1-4-2 for the remainder of the game.

“We placed two forwards in the front and two midfielders in the middle,” Johnson said. “We knew that since they (Hawks) would not press high, we can deal with the three backs.”

This helped the Dons control the ball better, which enabled them to have a strong force at the top.

Buoyed by the tactical change, the Dons made a resurgence.

Varon, after walking off in the first half, scored the equalizer. Then, with 17 minutes remaining, forward Sahr Mattia scored the game-winner for De Anza.

Varon received a yellow card with five minutes left, but the Dons held on.

“This game (was) really important. We had to come out and press hard,” Varon said.