Two goals disallowed as Gilroy settles for 0-0 tie against
Eagles
Gilroy’s boys soccer team scored twice Wednesday and settled for a 0-0 tie in its Tri-County Athletic League opener against unbeaten Everett Alvarez in Salinas.
Jose “Tapon” Velasquez headed a ball past the Eagles’ keeper with 17 minutes left only to have the goal disallowed because of an offside.
Bruce Ocana found the net for the Mustangs (4-1-1) with five minutes left but that goal was also disallowed when the referee ruled a technical offense for a Gilroy player calling for the ball.
“In a defensive battle like that when you put a ball in the net (and its taken away) it’s a big deal,” said GHS coach Brian Hall, an experienced referee on multiple levels. “The first call was correct but the second the rule was applied incorrectly.
“The rule was made so that a player could not deceive an opponent. Ocana was merely passing along information to a teammate (Tapon). There were no Alvarez players around.”
The defenses were so dominant in the TCAL opener for both teams that the Mustangs had a 3-1 shot advantage for the game. GHS keeper Jairo Rodriguez-Avalos made an excellent save of the Eagles’ (5-0-3) best scoring opportunity when he took the ball off the striker’s foot.
Hall praised the play of Edgar Hernandez, Gilroy’s attacking midfielder.
“He was winning tackles, winning balls for us,” Hall said. “He was a big difference maker on both sides of the ball. He distributed the ball well.”
Gilroy stays busy with two games in the next three days. The Mustangs host San Benito in a TCAL game at 6pm Friday and then host Pajaro Valley at 7pm Saturday in a round-of-16 Homestead Cup contest.
