GILROY – The Gilroy High boys soccer team’s season came to an
abrupt halt in the first round of the Central Coast Section
Division I playoffs, dropping a frustrating 1-0 decision to
Woodside High School on Wednesday night in Gilroy.
GILROY – The stakes are raised tenfold when the playoffs roll around and every opportunity becomes increasingly important.
For the Gilroy High boys soccer team, the chances to score were frequent yet the execution of those chances never came in a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Woodside in the first round of the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs Wednesday night in Gilroy.
The ninth-seeded Wildcats held the No. 8 Mustangs scoreless for the first time in seven games, dating back to Jan. 21.
“I’m not sure if it was the nerves or the lack of chemistry but there was no flow to what we were doing,” said head coach Armando Padilla. “I think we came out a little flat and we didn’t get over that until it was a sense of urgency the last 10, 15 minutes of the game.”
Otavio Perez put Woodside up by one in the 34th minute and it was all the cushion the visitors needed to advance through to the second round and face No. 1-seed St. Ignatius on Saturday.
The early exit for the No. 8-seeded Mustangs wasn’t due to a lack of effort, however, playing well enough to get within striking distance throughout the contest – the difficulties occurred finishing around the net.
“That’s soccer, that’s a huge reason why we play the game is for those chances, those opportunities,” Padilla said.
The Mustangs had two golden opportunities to pull ahead in the first half but failed to convert.
After a spot-on cross from senior Josh Gonzalez connected with Forrest Alvarez inside the box, Alvarez could not get the shot off, trying to dribble around the last defender.
Three minutes later, in the 31st minute, Alvarez again was beautifully set up by Gonzalez, this time the shot came but sailed just wide of the far post.
“This whole week has been about finishing inside the 18-yard box and two chances presented themselves and we didn’t put them away,” Padilla said.
Less than two minutes later an overplay at midfield by Mustangs’ defender Mario Gomez let a Wildcats forward streak down the left sideline. He connected his pass to Perez as he approached the box. Mustangs’ goalie Roy Oneto, who has exceeded expectations much of the year, filling in for injured goalie Christian Lustre, took two steps toward Perez. The Wildcats’ sophomore saw the opening and gently chipped the ball over Oneto has he raced back in front of the net.
“I think we were just nervous,” Mustangs’ leading scorer Jonathan Diaz De Leon said. “I think that was our only problem. We just didn’t play our game. It wasn’t our night.”
The Mustangs earned seven corner kicks to the Wildcats zero and played a man up for roughly 25 minutes after Wildcats’ midfielder Miguel Revuelta was shown a red card and ejected for throwing an elbow.
“We’ve had a hard time this year with teams that play very direct. It kind of throws us off balance,” Padilla said.”They were able to do that today. It’s tough.”
Gilroy finishes the season 13-5-2, but well short of its overall goal of a CCS title. The road to the championship still goes through Gilroy as the next three rounds, including the finals, will be played at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex.
“I feel bad for the seniors,” Padilla said. “It would have been nice to continue with the quarterfinals, semis and finals being played here.”
