Some of the Gilroy High boys’ soccer players gave them up
immediately. Some folded them up in their bags. Some simply kept
them as motivation.
Some of the Gilroy High boys’ soccer players gave them up immediately. Some folded them up in their bags. Some simply kept them as motivation.
Whatever the case, the returning Mustangs don’t want to have to decide again this season. They’d rather just do without the second-place certificates they received after last year’s CCS championship game
“I’m pretty sure none of us want to get those again,” senior defender Arron Thomas said. “That feeling was terrible. It was even worse than seeing Watsonville get the first-place trophy.”
After an undefeated season (21-0-5) that included a TCAL title and a CCS semifinal win over Gunn High, the Mustangs were unable to overcome local powerhouse Watsonville in the title match, losing 3-0 in front of an estimated 1,500 fans at San Jose’s Powell Stadium.
“It was a heartbreaking experience,” senior midfielder Alfonso Motagalvan said. “To work that hard and get up to the top and then fall one game short … that was tough.”
Even co-head coach Armando Padilla, who said he tried to look at the big picture of how far the program had come, admitted the frustration caused by having the team’s first loss come in its last game.
“It was really bad,” he said. “They worked so hard and when you don’t win, it pretty much stinks – because it kind of put a blemish on the entire season.”
Nine months later, a new season dawns with Thursday’s 3:30 home match with Oak Grove.
“We can’t wait,” Motagalvan said.
The Mustangs will have to replace four seniors, including TCAL first-teamers Jorge Plate and Javier Fernandez (now at San Jose State). They’ll also breaking in some players from JV and more than a few freshmen, including outside mid Jairo Rodriguez and starting goalie Randy Moya.
For the most part, though, this is a senior-dominated club. The class of 11 makes up nearly half the roster and includes five players who made the all-TCAL team last season. Motagalvan, Thomas and defenders Artemion Arteaga and Ismael Nava were honored on the first team, while Joel Vera finished as a second-team midfielder.
They all return, joined by fellow starter Everardo Diaz De Leon and seniors with an increased role such as forwards Javier Canales and Marco Aguilar.
“We have a lot of seniors and more leaders than we had before,” said Motagalvan, a captain since his sophomore year. “The seniors are doing what it takes to win … day in and day out working our butts off and trying to make the other players better.”
Both Padilla and Motagalvan, the league’s reigning MVP, said they think this year’s has the potential to be even more powerful than the last.
“I don’t want to talk too early, but our core guys are better and I think we’re more talented this year,” Motagalvan said. “So I don’t think we’ll have any problem getting to CCS.
“It’s just a matter of what we do when we get there.”
Without a doubt, that’s a motivator for the entire team.
“That’s all we’ve been thinking about,” said Thomas, a fellow co-captain. “When we played club this summer, it was all to get back to where we were last year. It motivates us a lot. All the work and practice is to get another chance.”
Arteaga can hardly wait for that chance, saying he couldn’t even sleep the night before this season’s first practice three weeks ago.
“I’ve been waiting for this season for a long time,” he said. “Since the day last year ended, I’ve wanted it to be Nov. 1.”
The first of November has come and gone, though. Now it’s time to begin the road to Gilroy’s first CCS soccer title since 1991.
“That would be great,” Arteaga said. “We just want to get back and get to the next step. We want to make something for Gilroy.”
