North Salinas got nothing Tuesday afternoon, but it gave up
almost everything.
The result was an 8-0 victory for the Gilroy High boys soccer
team in its first game of Tri-County Athletic League play.
”
Yeah, it was pretty bad,
”
Gilroy coach Armando Padilla said of the thrashing his squad
delivered to the Vikings.
”
We just came out and dominated in the first half.
”
SALINAS – North Salinas got nothing Tuesday afternoon, but it gave up almost everything.
The result was an 8-0 victory for the Gilroy High boys soccer team in its first game of Tri-County Athletic League play.
“Yeah, it was pretty bad,” Gilroy coach Armando Padilla said of the thrashing his squad delivered to the Vikings. “We just came out and dominated in the first half.”
The second half was even uglier, as the Mustangs added five more goals to the 3-0 lead they held at intermission.
Gilroy senior midfielder Bruce Ocana had assists on the team’s first three goals before scoring the sixth on a penalty kick set up by Daniel Amaro, who was kicked while attempting a shot inside the box. Victor Garcia scored the Mustangs’ first goal off an Ocana corner kick, Carlos Cortez netted the second following a through ball by Ocana and Jorge Sanchez scored his first of two goals on the day by fielding an Ocana cross from the left side of the field.
“[Distributing the ball] is what the position calls for, so [Ocana] was doing a good job,” Padilla said.
Sanchez scored the first goal of the second half by placing a cross from Josh Gonzalez into the cage with one touch. The goal followed a perfect display of passing, according to Padilla, as eight different Mustangs were able to make a touch on the ball before it found its way behind the Vikings’ keeper.
“At halftime we just talked about keeping possession, keeping the ball on the ground and letting the ball do the work,” Padilla said. “That was just a beautiful sequence.”
Jose Luis Lopez scored Gilroy’s sixth goal on a penalty kick set up by Sanchez being taken down in the box and Andy Moya contributed the seventh score on a chip pass over defenders’ heads from Anthony Velasquez.
It was the first game of the season for Moya, who missed Gilroy’s first five games due to club team commitments. After just one game, the senior midfielder’s value seems obvious.
“We expect a lot of things from him and we expect to see his presence,” Padilla said. “Andy’s our vocal leader, he’s one of our captains and he just makes everyone better.”
Velasquez capped off the pillaging of the Vikings by taking a pass from Amaro, dodging a defender at the top of the box and then striking the ball true to make it 8-nothing.
The victory was so overwhelming that Gilroy’s coach didn’t quite know what to make of the lopsided score.
“Either we played really, really well, or they just had a bad day,” Padilla said.
The Mustangs are undefeated after one game in the TCAL and currently hold a 4-1-1 record on the season. They will face an opponent still to be determined Saturday at 1:45 p.m. at Oak Grove High School in the quarterfinals of the Homestead Christmas Cup.
