Overdue was an understatement in the eyes of the Gilroy High
boys’ soccer team.
Knocking on the door for the first 60 minutes of Tuesday’s
Tri-County Athletic League contest against the visiting Salinas
Cowboys, Gilroy finally got its goal when junior forward Forrest
Alvarez headed a Bruce Ocana corner kick down, hard to the turf. As
the ball bounced, the Cowboys keeper took a false step forward,
leaving him in no-man’s land to stop a shot that arched over his
head and outstretched arms, and into the net.
Ocana provided some breathing room eight minutes later when he
struck a through ball from Andy Moya at full speed through a hole
in the bottom left corner of the net to give Gilroy a 2-0
victory.
GILROY – Overdue was an understatement in the eyes of the Gilroy High boys’ soccer team.
Knocking on the door for the first 60 minutes of Tuesday’s Tri-County Athletic League contest against the visiting Salinas Cowboys, Gilroy finally got its goal when junior forward Forrest Alvarez headed a Bruce Ocana corner kick down, hard to the turf. As the ball bounced, the Cowboys keeper took a false step forward, leaving him in no-man’s land to stop a shot that arched over his head and outstretched arms, and into the net.
Ocana provided some breathing room eight minutes later when he struck a through ball from Andy Moya at full speed through a hole in the bottom left corner of the net to give Gilroy a 2-0 victory.
“I saw it go in and I heard the crowd celebrate like two minutes later,” Ocana said.
The persistence and patience paid off in a way not seen by the Mustangs since Feb. 7, 2006. It was the first Gilroy win over Salinas in nearly three years
“It was the first one in three or four years, so it was a good one,” Gilroy coach Armando Padilla said.
Alvarez was in agreement with his coach, but for a slightly different reason. After spending last year playing just club soccer, scoring his first goal of the season for GHS was a monkey off the back.
“It feels great,” Alvarez said. “I’ve been waiting for this all year.”
Gilroy coaches weren’t quite sure where to place Alvarez earlier in the season, but all that has changed.
“We had him at outside [midfielder] for a while, but he’s a true striker,” Padilla said. “He’s still not quite there, which is good for us because we know we can get that much more (out of him).”
Ocana was feeling good after completing what one could call the TCAL career cycle.
“I’ve never scored against Salinas until this game,” he said regarding his three years on varsity. “Now I’ve scored on every TCAL team.”
Salinas coach Carlos Casapia thought his squad made too many mistakes, but he was quick to congratulate the Mustangs on the victory.
“We’re both good teams and they just beat us today,” Casapia said.
Alvarez attributed the Mustangs’ ability in earning their second TCAL win of the season to a renewed focus while preparing.
“The last few practices have been perfect,” he said.
Gilroy is now 8-2-5 overall on the season, 2-0-2 in the TCAL. Salinas drops to 3-8-2, 2-2-1.
The Mustangs will host the Alisal Trojans, who lost 1-0 to Palma on Tuesday, at 5 p.m. on Thursday. A win would place Gilroy at the top of the TCAL standings.
