Throughout the first eight games of the year, the San Benito boys soccer team had trouble finishing and putting away teams. Against Christopher on Tuesday, the Balers did just that in a 3-0 win. After a back and forth first half, where neither team could score despite constant pressure on both sides of the field, San Benito took control in the second half.
Behind senior Ricardo Roque, the Balers (5-3-1) controlled the possession of the ball over first 20 minutes of the second half to race out to a 2-0 lead. Roque started the Baler scoring after San Benito forced a Christopher penalty inside the goalie’s box.
Roque hit the penalty kick through the diving Cougar keeper to get San Benito the lead. From there, San Benito dropped an extra defender and kept Christopher away from the net.
“That was the message at halftime,” SBHS head coach Tony Deras said. “It was a close game. It was 0-0. I told them It’s only going to take us to score one goal. Once we did that, it would changed the whole route of the game and that’s what happened.”
He continued: “I was glad it was us to score first because if they were the ones to score first it would have been a different story. We scored and we finished it.”
San Benito’s Ricardo Becerra added the Balers second goal 10 minutes later after a long crossing pass. After the second goal, Christopher put pressure on San Benito in the final 20 minutes of the game, but a breakaway goal by Roque put the game away.
“I guess we played all right but we could have played better,” Roque said after the win. “But the field kind of affected us. We did what we had to do and we played like we practiced. The team right now is all right. Every day we practice we have to get better and better. Things have to work out for us. We have to try better and improve.”
Despite the loss, the Cougars showed improvement, CHS coach Ricardo Espinosa said.
“In the second half, I thought we played much better if you look at the possession,” he said. “Their second goal came off a defensive error by us, we made a mistake and there was an open player that put it away. The third goal, was a break away and they put it away. We had eight shots in the second half and you would think one would go in. We just have to work on finishing.”
The team, though, responded to its early struggles, Espinosa said.
“I have no issues with the way we responded,” he said. “We had chances up in front. We were just unlucky that we didn’t put it away. I’m happy with them though.”
