Mustang kickers shut out Salinas at ‘The Pit’, 3-0
SALINAS – The result is what the Mustang kickers wanted out of Friday’s T-CAL opener, defeating host Salinas by a 3-0 margin, but the inconsistent play is what the team wants to improve on before Wednesday’s road clash against Hollister.
“Overall, it was little shaky,” said co-head coach Armando Padilla, whose squad is ranked No. 2 in CCS behind Watsonville. “Just not the kind of game we wanted to play for our first game of league.”
Even though they were not at their best, the Mustangs (10-0-4 overall, 1-0 in T-CAL) got the job done led by senior striker Javier Hernandez’s two-goal effort and a stingy ‘defense that recorded another shutout with keeper Luis Esqueda making seven stops.
“The good thing in this game was everyone got playing time,” said Padilla of the win over Salinas. “We got all 17 players in. That was the good thing.”
Gilroy played at ‘The Pit’ on the artificial grass and had trouble gauging the different speed of the surface in the first half, despite jumping out to an early 2-0 advantage.
“It was a different type of surface. … We like to split defenses, putting the ball on the ground. But we weren’t able to catch up to the balls because the surface was so fast,” said Padilla. “Once we got into second half, I told them to just settle the ball down, keep possession, and let things develop. We started playing more balls at the feet.”
Sophomore Ben Alcantar gave Gilroy the lead in the game’s 16th minute off a fee from teammate Luis Bracera – who attacked the goal, took on a defender, and slipped a pass by the defense. Alcantar hustled to the ball and blasted it in from 20 yards out.
In the 39th minute, Hernandez netted his first of two goals after junior midfielder Alfonso Motagalvan played a through ball to the Mustang speedster – who slipped a shot past the keeper.
The Mustangs generated 10 shots on net in the second half plus had 10 more scoring opportunities where their runners could not get to the ball. Salinas had only seven shots the entire game.
Hernandez found the back of the net for a second time in the second half when he tapped in the goal after teammate Stephon Christiansen got a touch in front.
“We just have to pick up our game (for Hollister),” said Padilla, who is without fellow co-head coach Brian Hall, a FIFA referee who is in the Middle East for the next two weeks for the World Youth Soccer Championships.
