As a former World Cup referee, Brian Hall has had a close look
at elite soccer teams from all over the globe. So Gilroy High’s
co-head coach knows a confident team when he sees it.
As a former World Cup referee, Brian Hall has had a close look at elite soccer teams from all over the globe. So Gilroy High’s co-head coach knows a confident team when he sees it.
And when he looks at Watsonville, currently ranked No. 1 in the country, he sees it.
“There’s an aura of invincibility there,” Hall said. “They walk onto the field with cockiness … but it’s not a negative cockiness. It’s not a rub-it-in-your-face cockiness.
“It’s a well-earned feeling. It’s a ‘we’re the best … you prove you’re better than us.”
Tonight at 6, Hall’s Mustangs get their chance.
They get their chance to play the team that handed them their only loss last season, a 3-0 defeat in the CCS title game. And after an up-and-down 3-1-1 start, they get their chance to hit the road and play the game they’ve waited months for.
“This is big for Gilroy … big for the team,” GHS captain Alfonso Motagalvan said. “Now we get to see what we’re made of.”
Playing against the Wildcatz is generally a fairly accurate gauge. To put it plainly, Watsonville is a powerhouse – a program that almost all other area teams look up to year after year.
“To Watsonville’s credit, we’re trying to get to the point where they are,” Hall said.
As much as he and Armando Padilla have built back up Gilroy soccer, it’s still quite a climb to get to that point.
The Wildcatz have strung together a remarkable 27 consecutive trips to CCS. Since 1970, they’ve missed the playoffs just one time.
In Roland Hedgepath’s 26-year coaching tenure, Watsonville has won or shared five section titles and appeared in eight championship games.
“And this year we’re trying to step it up one more notch,” said Hedgepath, alluding to the team’s No. 1 ranking by studentsportssoccer.com.
Judging by the numbers, the preseason hype was justified. The ‘Catz return eight starters from last season’s 26-1-1 group.
Among the large group of returnees is standout defender Oscar Manajars and the team’s two leading scorers, forwards Miquel Silva (28 goals) and Rene Aldama (25 goals). According to Hedgepath, Watsonville has “at least” six players with Division I potential.
This weekend, though, the road to perfection hit a snag. In Saturday’s road game against rival powerhouse Bellarmine, the Wildcatz gave up a late goal on a penalty kick and settled for a 1-1 tie with the Bells.
“There’s been a lot of publicity about the No. 1 ranking, but everyone saw what happened this weekend,” Hedgepath said. “Bellarmine is very physical and they got us out our gameplan. That’s the way teams have to play us. There’s ways to get around that, but we just didn’t get it done.”
Be assured the Mustangs plan on going after Watsonville. They want to get physical. They want to use their speed. And unlike in last year’s CCS matchup, they want to stay disciplined and control the pace of the game.
In other words, play like they did early last season during a 2-2 tie with Watsonville, which eventually won the match on penalty kicks.
“We need to get at them and not let them come at us,” senior defender Artemio Arteaga said. “That was the big difference between the two games last season.
“We’re gonna come after them hard this time.”
That might come as a surprise to the Wildcatz, Arteaga added.
“I’m sure they think ‘this is Gilroy and we’ve already beaten them twice,'” he said. “They’re saying, ‘it’s just another team we play … oh, just little Gilroy.'”
Senior forward Joel Vera said “little Gilroy” is ready to prove it’s not just another team.
“I think they know they’re good,” Vera said of Watsonville, “but we’re also pretty good. That ranking doesn’t matter … it depends on us. We can beat them if we really want to.”
As for Motagalvan, recently named to the 17-year-old Adidas All-American team, he said his team is “still lacking that something” during these first few games.
The potential is there, though, and the senior midfielder said he’s got a feeling it might just be tapped tonight.
“For some reason, I feel pretty good about this game,” Motagalvan said. “I don’t know what it is. But if we show up, we could be deadly. We’ve got nothing to lose.
“They’ve got a lot to lose.”
