Mustang kickers score three in first half to stun No. 2 Gunn,
4-1; Watsonville awaits
SAN JOSE – One more down and just one more to go for the Gilroy High boys soccer team, which shocked No. 2 Gunn with three consecutive first-half goals en route to a convincing 4-1 semifinal victory.
For the second straight game, the garlic kickers jumped all over their top-notch opponent. In Saturday’s quarterfinal, Gilroy stunned perennial power Leland with three goals right off the bat, leading to a 4-2 victory. Last night at PAL Stadium in San Jose, the Mustangs did the same to the defending section champion Titans.
“What a way to come out again,” Coach Armando Padilla said. “Never in the first games the entire preseason or even the regular league season did we ever come out and put three goals in the first 20 minutes, and that’s back-to-back games.”
Junior Everardo Diaz de Leon opened the scoring in the 8th minute off a feed from teammate Alfonso Motagalvan and, 11 minutes later, senior Javier Hernandez netted his first of two goals off a pass from Diaz de Leon. Then, senior Jorge Plata put Gilroy up by three only 24 minutes in with a blast off a direct kick from the top of the box.
“Coach (Brian) Hall and (Armando) Padilla have been preparing us for these games, and we stick to the game plan. Everybody’s been focused the last couple of days at practice and around school we’re just focused, thinking about what we have to do, and then we just execute,” Motagalvan said. “We talked about countering on these guys and we do it when we’re fresh. We do it right off the bat and let them get tired.”
The No. 3 Mustangs now prepare for the biggest game of their scholastic careers, up against No. 1 Watsonville in Friday’s Central Coast Section Division I Championship on the same field at 7 p.m.
“We need one more game against the guys who beat us in the Homestead Cup, so I guess we’ve got to come out even harder now,” junior sweeper Artemio Arteaga said. “It’s going to be a battle. It’s our last game. If we win, we take it all. If we don’t, it doesn’t matter if we beat Leland or Gunn. We just lost. We have to go all the way.”
Gilroy officially holds a 21-0-5 overall record, but Watsonville did beat them in the Homestead Cup Finals in penalty kicks. The loss was counted as a tie for the losing team’s record with the winner getting the ‘W’ since the game immediately went into penalty kicks following the 2-2 tie at the end of regulation.
“In the tournament, I think we could have got it, but we’ll bring our game,” junior fullback Ismael Nava said. “We’ve got to bring our ‘A’ game, step it up a little more, and, hopefully, we win it.”
If the last two games were any indication, the Mustangs will give the Wildcatz a run for their money. The teams were ranked No. 1 and 2 in CCS at the end of the regular season, but Gunn got the No. 2 playoff seed over Gilroy because of power points, playing in an ‘A’ Division. The Tri-County Athletic League Champions disproved the small school-big school theory, and now hope to complete their run to Gilroy High’s first CCS title since 1991.
“That’s going to be tough game. It all comes down to just playing your game. It all comes down to don’t do anything special, don’t change anything,” Coach Hall said. “Right now, it’s too late in the season to change what you are doing. We just need to continue to execute, play disciplined soccer, and that’s it.”
That’s all it took for the Mustangs to easily dispose of Gunn in Tuesday’s semifinal contest. Diaz de Leon netted his third goal in the last two playoff games to get the garlic party started, and Hernandez followed suit with his fourth goal and later fifth goal through three CCS games.
“Again, a lot of it just comes down to execution. We have a game plan and the guys are executing to the game plan. As a coach, you can’t ask for more than that from the troops,” Coach Hall said. “They go out, they execute and they play with heart and determination, and then you get results. Today and against Leland, that was an example of heart, determination, quality play, leading to results.”
Plata’s golden left foot accounted for the third Gilroy goal, as he blasted a free kick into the back of the net.
Gunn was not done though, controlling the action for the better part of the second half, but two straight headers dinged the crossbar. The Titans’ hard work finally paid dividends with 6:29 remaining, plus injury time, when senior Matt Marquess finished off a pass from teammate Pablo Rivera.
“Again, we responded with another goal,” Coach Hall said.
With Gunn pushing up on the attack, the Mustangs used a quick counterattack to reclaim a three-goal lead. After Motagalvan booted the ball out of the Gilroy defensive zone, Hernandez chased it down, beat his defender and then the goaltender. It was the second straight game that not only Gilroy, but Hernandez matched a late goal.
“We move the ball and then we counter on them and that’s how we got our goals. We just kept on doing that in the first half,” Motagalvan said. “I think right now Javi, Evy, they’re playing the best soccer they can play. Now, we’ve got to get Plata, a couple of other guys, going and if we come to play like we came to play against Leland in the first half, we can take (Watsonville).”
The Wildcatz defeated No. 4 Menlo-Atherton by a 3-1 spread in the earlier semifinal game played at PAL Stadium. Watsonville won a share of the CCS Division I title with North Salinas in 1996 and won the Division II title three straight seasons from 1988-1990. Gilroy is 13-10-3 overall in playoff games, while Watsonville is 48-24-2 in CCS.
“Watsonville, I won’t take anything from them. They’re a great team. They’ve got great players. I think that we match up with them very well and I think it’s revenge. The revenge factor is in place now,” Motagalvan said. “They’re not going to beat us without us giving them a battle. I think it’s going to be a battle and it’s going to be a good battle.”
“It’s going to be a fast-paced game with quick touches and we’ll just see who can put together the best plays,” Coach Padilla added.
