GILROY—“Do you want the win? Or do you want the tie?”
That’s what Gilroy coach Armando Padilla shouted from the sidelines with just 10 minutes remaining in Tuesday’s game against San Benito.
It was those words that ignited a fire under the Mustangs, and within six minutes they had broken the tie.
Gilroy’s Sean Kaufman scored in the 76th minute to lift his team to a 2-1 win over the Balers to kick off Monterey Bay League-Gabilian Division play.
San Benito goalie Cesar Perez del Real was handed yellow card and the Mustangs were awarded a free kick. Kaufman took the shot from the corner and squeezed it through the slew of players from both teams crowding the net.
“I was happy because it’s our first win at home,” senior Fernando Lares said. “At that point I just wanted to get a win. It didn’t matter if I scored or who scored, I just wanted to get a win.”
The Mustangs won the last meeting between the two squads in Feb. 2011 2-1. This game, San Benito Tony Deras said, gave the Balers déjà vu.
“It was a good game,” he said. “It was a very, very, very well fought game like always. … It happened two years ago, it happened again.”
Both teams exchanged shots early before the Mustangs took control.They hammered Perez del Real with five shots on goal and finally broke through in the 33rd minute.
San Benito’s Leonardo Vaca drew a yellow card to set-up a free kick for Gilroy. Kaufman blasted a shot to a herd of awaiting Mustangs and connected with Lares who headed the ball in for the score.
The goal left the Balers hungry to answer and the dangerous Jose Lopez Munoz had a chance to tie it up in the 35th minute, but was turned away by Gilroy goalie Jaime Ulloa. With that, Gilroy took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
Lopez Munoz, who Padilla instructed his team to cover at halftime, finally got his team on the board in the 63rd minute. He went one-on-one with Ulloa, juking the ball past him to send it sailing to far corner to tie the game.
“He (Lopez Munoz) was the difference maker in the middle for Hollister,” Padilla said. “After we got the go-ahead goal, we made sure (to cover him) and dropped another defender in there (which) kind of helped clog things up in the middle of the field.”
The Mustangs were relentless in their attack after halftime as Lares, Kaufman, David Solorzano and Daniel Tovar made Perez del Real work for saves in net.
The Balers saw another chance to tie in the 46th minute. Their fans had already began celebrating when they saw Ulloa out of position, almost guaranteeing a goal. But Gilroy’s Eucario Mendoza was there to knock the ball out, silencing the visitor’s bleachers.
“I believe the boys were anxious to tell you the truth,” Deras said. “If we would’ve found a medium point, it would’ve been a different game. It is what it is.”
The Mustangs had two excellent chances in the 54th and 55th minutes, but were unable to score.
Cruz Garcia broke away and charged down field for Gilroy in the 54th, but was stopped short of the net by Luis Coronado who cleared the ball.
Lares then tried to capitalize on an empty net in the 55th minute as Perez del Real came out too far to make the save. His shot, however, sailed just wide.
The Mustangs went 2-5 in the preseason and had little time to improve over the break. To get a win despite that, Padilla said, made it all that much sweeter.
The win puts the Mustangs at 3-5 overall as they prepare to host the undefeated Watsonville Wildcatz at 6:45 p.m. Thursday.
“We didn’t get a lot of chances to work on our tactics and things like this. To get a win after all that was huge because we go up against Watsonville on Thursday,” Padilla said.
San Benito will host the also undefeated Alisal Trojans at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 13. Deras said the biggest thing his team needs to work on is its confidence.
“I think it’s more mental than anything else because they don’t believe what they’re capable of,” the Balers coach said. “We just came from the B Division and it’s like ‘oh, we’re playing an A Division team.’ They still do not believe that (they’re able to play with Gabilan teams). I think it’s more mental than anything else.”
