Gilroy’s 1-1 tie with Sobrato eliminates Mustangs from CCS
playoff picture
By Leann Shea, Staff Writer
Morgan Hill – Morgan Hill – The Gilroy Mustangs boys soccer team saw their playoff hopes evaporate as they battled to a 1-1 tie with the Sobrato Bulldogs in the final Tri-County Athletic League game of the season.
Despite dominating possession and pounding the Sobrato (1-10-5, 0-7-5 TCAL) goal with 26 shots, the Mustangs (11-6-3, 8-3-1 TCAL) couldn’t convert their ample offensive opportunities and allowed the Bulldogs back in the game in the second half.
“I’m not sure if we are actually in second or third place and if North Salinas loses I think we still go in. We’ll have to wait and see,” said Gilroy coach Armando Padilla of making the CCS playoffs.
“It’s frustrating because we put ourselves in a situation where we came down to the last game to see if we could make it into the playoffs. I’ve got to give it up to Sobrato. They played tough against the top teams in the league. They (Sobrato) did a good job today. They should be called the Sobrato Spoilers instead of the Bulldogs.”
And spoil the Bulldogs did, as the North Salinas Vikings defeated the Palma Chieftains on Thursday evening to shore up the second playoff spot behind first place Live Oak.
The Mustangs offense dominated the first half, keeping the ball on Sobrato’s side of the field for most of the 40 minutes. Gilroy got on the board in the 25th minute as Mustang defender Kevin Grove cleared the ball to Jose Velasquez in front of the Bulldogs goal. Velasquez blasted the ball past the diving Sobrato goalkeeper.
“At the beginning we were having trouble penetrating their (Gilroy’s) defense. Our midfield, the whole team really, came out flat,” said Sobrato coach Ricardo Martinez.
The Mustangs continued to create scoring opportunities but were turned away by Sobrato defenders Sam Stoner, Chris Sergent and goalkeeper Trevor Newcomb. Newcomb denied the Gilroy forwards on several second-chance opportunities as well, coming out of the box and challenging shots.
Trailing 1-0 to start the second half, the Bulldogs’ offense came out fired up and started to maintain possession and push the ball toward the Gilroy goal. With 10 minutes left in the game, Sobrato tied the game up as Sergent, who moved up to the forward position in the second half, passed the ball to Mario Vargas who fired the ball into the left corner of the Gilroy net.
Five minutes later, Sobrato missed a golden opportunitiy to take a 2-1 lead as Murilo Almeida found himself one on one with Gilroy’s goalkeeper, but Almeida boomed the shot way over the cross bar and the game ended tied at 1-1.
“We outshot them (Sobrato) 26-4. Their one shot in the second half went into the goal,” said Padilla. “When you create so many opportunities, but can’t finish, you let teams hang in there and Sobrato was able to put it in. We had a flat practice yesterday, which carried into today. One out of 26 is not a very good percentage.”
Looking ahead to next season, Padilla added, “We’re young and we have a good core of freshmen and sophomores.”
