10:00pm | There’s a few ways to look at the Moore League boys’ soccer tilt between Cabrillo and Lakewood yesterday afternoon. One way is that the Jaguars out shot the Lancers 20-to-9, so it should be a landslide. But at the same time it was 2-1 for almost the entire second half and Lakewood had their chances to score, so it should have come down to the wire.
Either way, it’s a battle for playoff position, so it’s always close, and the Jaguars added an insurance goal with less than 15 minutes remaining to emerge victorious, 3-1.
“It should have been 9-0, but how can I be mad about three goals?” said Cabrillo head coach Pat Noyes, whose team improves to 2-2-1 and takes hold of the fourth and final playoff spot in league. “We can pass the ball and play the finesse game, but we’re at our best when we play hard… if we get a few goals and get on a roll, we can play with anyone.”
The Jags showed that hard play all afternoon on their immaculate home pitch, but it was the beginning of the second half that showed Noyes his best squad. Cabrillo was called for eight fouls in the second half to Lakewood’s two, as opposed to the first half where the Lancers were whistled nine times to the Jags four. Sometimes that discrepancy can mirror messy play, but in this game it was the all-out effort that drew the stoppages.
At one point, Noyes yelled at sophomore Hector Zepeda to “tackle that” as a Lancer dribbled near midfield. It looked like Zepeda had been fired out of a cannon, and the two players clashed in front of the Cabrillo bench, much to Noyes’ delight.
The Lancer backline played hard as well, and has to get the nod for group of the match with their stellar play in the first half, getting out shot 8-to-5 in the first 40 minutes. Goalkeeper Evan McCarty directed sweepers Abel Rodriguez and Steve Sanchez very well and Lakewood did a fantastic job of clearing the Cabrillo crosses as the Jaguars were working downhill offensively.
The Jaguars finally broke through in the 20th minute when Wilfredo Mejia gathered a bouncing ball at the corner of the box. He turned quickly to see Jose Vaca making a straight run towards the near post. The soft touch was met by a hard shot from Vaca to the back post that was just out of McCarty’s reach.
However, Lakewood’s Julian Salas showed some quality play of his own and almost single handedly led the Lancer attack in the 26th minute. He earned a throw on the near side, and then earned a corner kick on the far side after a shot on goal. The senior captain made the effort worthwhile on the corner by bending the ball with his right foot, off the far post, and into goal for the equalizer.
The Jags quickly regained momentum and the lead on what Noyes called, “the best goal of the year.” Rigo Luna got it started with a beautiful cross into the box. From there it was one-touch passing around and through the Lakewood defense. Five Jaguars touched it before Cesar Sanchez left it off for Mejia, who found none other than Luna making a run at the near post. Mejia poked a perfect pass to open space, and Luna cracked one under a diving McCarty to make it 2-1 headed to half.
“The kids call that a futsal goal,” said Noyes. “When we play indoor soccer we always have more touches in the box… that was a beautiful goal to watch.”
The second half is when the Jags racked up the chances with great play on the right side from junior Geo Cazall, sophomore Frankie Contreras and sophomore Vaca. But they couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net, and it remained a one-goal advantage until Lakewood almost tied it up in the 65th minute.
Again it was Salas leading the Lancers, and off a throw in he sent a volley into the goalmouth where striker Tyre Brown was waiting. Brown got a good first touch on it, but Cabrillo goalkeeper Jesus Rodriguez made the save of the day, sacrificing his body and smothering the ball near Brown’s feet.
Two minutes later the Jags finally broke through with the insurance goal when Contreras sent a cross into the box. Diego Rivero beat his defender to the ball and blasted it into the netting to effectively end the contest.
Lakewood will return home on Friday to see Compton, while Cabrillo takes the newfound momentum to Millikan to see the first-place archrival Rams.