On Jan. 20, gray evening skies signal the start of warm ups for the players of the Bonita Vista High (BVH) Co-Ed Roller Hockey team⁠—an anticipated game against San Ysidro High (SYH) only minutes away. Spectators find the perfect seat with the best angles to watch the game from the bleachers.

Only a few minutes into the game, Center and senior Maxwell Anderson (12) quickly scores the first goal. 

“He’s [Anderson] an extremely skilled ice hockey player, but he’s also extremely unselfish. He’ll be able to put in goals whenever we need so that we can get a little score differential. So we can pop in the new players without having them stress,” Roller Hockey Captain and senior Diego Nunes said.

Although Anderson’s goal displays skill during the game, SYH’s goaltenders demonstrate the team’s own abilities.

“[One] back goaltender, she had 32 saves in the last two nights; 64 saves in games back to back. That’s insane. If she wasn’t their goaltender, we probably would have put up a lot more,” Roller Hockey co-Coach Tony Rissr said.

BVH went into the game against SYH being undefeated and soon enough left undefeated with a score of 14-1. The win, however, also makes Anderson feel like there are players who deserved recognition other than himself⁠— many of those who scored during the game.

“This year, we got two new freshman players who played ice hockey as well. So I think this year we’re better than ever, and we also have Diego Nunes and Keala Nunes who are seniors and they’ve stepped it up,” Anderson said.

With winning came reflection. Although BVH’s Roller Hockey team still stands undefeated, BVH coaches and players on the team both agreed they still have improvements that need to be worked on.

“We just need to work on not being too bunched up, I think sometimes people just get focused on the puck and then have three people in one place,” Anderson said. “We get too comfortable, so if we play better teams they’re gonna capitalize that. It’s like a bad habit.” 

Many could hear Head Coach Keith Quigley coaching his team from the sidelines, he also expresses how he wishes the communication on the team was substantially better which would positively impact the team as a whole.

“I’m simply about hustle and effort. That’s all I can ask for as a coach. We do that even if we lose. [When it comes to] communication, I got to speak really loud. I’m kind of hoarse from all my screaming from the bench [trying to] help them out,” Quigley said.

While the Barons are undefeated, they’re still focusing on playing as a team and are working towards building lifelong friendships inside and outside the team.

“One of the greatest things about our team is [that] we play as a team and we spread out goals between all of our players. We’re always getting assistant passes [which] shows in the field that everyone’s communicating [and] getting two or three passes before they even get the shot. Someone else is getting the rebound by cycling back and keeping offensive control,” D. Nunes said.

While Maxwell keeps his humble attitude, he is hopeful that the team will continue its success throughout the season. He aims for the team to be league champions this year due to the reputation and all of the achievements they’ve attained.

“I think that this is the best we’ve ever been. When I joined sophomore year, we became better and better each year. We’re gonna be league champs this year,” Anderson said.

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An earlier version of this article incorrectly mentioned the score between BVH and SYH as 15-1. This article was updated on January 24, 2022, to correct the score to 14-1.