Alcantar, Hernandez, Plata, Diaz de Leon all score in shutout of
Seaside
GILROY – It was poetry in motion whenever midfielder Ben Alcantar touched the ball in the Mustang kickers’ 4-0 thrashing of visiting Seaside to extend their season-long unbeaten streak to nine games (7-0-2).
Alcantar scored on a penalty shot to give Gilroy a 1-0 halftime lead, but it was what the sophomore standout did with the ball on the field that would even make the great Pele blush. Countless times in Tuesday’s non-league affair in Mustang Stadium, Alcantar danced around defenders like they weren’t even there.
Seaside never had a chance.
At one point, Alcantar juked four defenders on his way to the net before dishing to a teammate for a scoring opportunity.
“He was incredible this game. He just has that explosiveness and the skill with the ball,” said Coach Brian Hall of Alcantar. “He plays what’s called futsal. It’s indoor soccer on a basketball court with a smaller, heavier ball. That allows him to really have the ball skills, the touch of the ball, the pass.”
It also helped that Alcantar is in good company with other talented ball-handlers like senior striker Javier Hernandez, who found the back of the net on a low blast to the near post off a beautiful set-up from senior Everardo Diaz de Leon through teammate Juan Llamas.
“I think, today, really the key was Javier Hernandez and Ben Alcantar, their ability to get the ball wide and behind the defense,” Hall said. “That set up our forwards in the middle, gave them more time and opportunity when they had the ball in the middle to do something with the ball.
“One of the trademarks of a good attacking player is the ability to work the ball out of small space, and Ben has the ability,” the World Cup soccer official added.
Senior midfielder Jorge Plata, whose quick feet draw more fouls and produce more direct kicks than any of his teammates, put in Gilroy’s final goal when Diaz de Leon dribbled to the net and rolled the ball back to him.
“Like the coaches said from the middle to the outside, outside crosses, that’s how we can get the goals and that’s how we did it,” Plata said. “We scored a lot of goals, four of them. We had a big day so we played very good.”
With the Mustangs clinging to only a one-goal lead in the second half, Diaz de Leon gave them some breathing room with a goal on a sweet two-touch volley off a feed from sophomore midfielder Alfonso Motagalvan.
“We started finishing. We talked at halftime. Our biggest problem was we were getting the ball in the penalty area and behind the defense consistently, but the players off the ball were not timing their runs into the box. The services were going there and there weren’t the bodies there,” Hall said. “We talked about that at halftime, and, to the boys’ credit, they made the adjustment.”
Despite numerous scoring opportunities generated time after time by the teamwork and steady ball control of the Mustangs, Alcantar’s penalty shot was the only difference at the break.
“We just need to work on finishing … because today we had plenty of them,” said Plata, who would not blame the poor field conditions for the low-scoring first half. “It’s muddy and bumpy, so it’s kinda hard to control the ball. We don’t have any problem with it. We don’t actually practice every day on this field, but all the players we have are experienced playing with the ball so we did good.”
Five Mustangs were taken out of the starting line-up because they were late to a team practice, but their very capable replacements never let Seaside into the game.
“Maybe, we didn’t start with the right tempo, but we still got a goal in that period of time and still at halftime we came out with the lead playing without a lot of our starters, and that’s to the rest of the team’s credit,” Hall said. “Everyone got an opportunity to play, and hopefully we gave a few players a little rest for a game on Saturday.”
The Mustangs will try to win their third straight game in opening pool play of the Homestead Christmas Cup with Saturday’s 1:45 p.m. start against Monte Vista at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose. Gilroy then will move on to the single-elimination quarterfinals.
“We’re doing pretty good and we’ll keep it up, and hopefully we’ll take a CCS Championship,” Plata said. “(Seaside) played good and everything. I just think they need to be a little more in shape because they are not conditioned. That’s what probably killed them and controlling the ball that killed them also.”
