San Benito returns 12 players from last year’s team, but will
need to control the midfield in order to topple TCAL powers Gilroy,
Salinas
HOLLISTER
Ben Alvarez has turned what is essentially a game strategy into a bit of a mantra.
The third-year head coach of the San Benito girls soccer team often calls upon the lack of control at midfield following a Baler loss, and highlights the superior ball movement at midfield following a Baler win.
He is stressing the importance of the midfield once again this season, feeling it’s the team’s top priority and the No. 1 way to stir up the Tri-County Athletic League standings of a year ago.
“The center of the field,” Alvarez said, “that’s where everything happens.”
The Balers this year are expected to have the right amount of experience, skill and balance to mix it up with the likes of Gilroy and Salinas, returning 12 players to a team that went 12-6-2 a year ago, 10-2 in the TCAL, and were roughly 27 minutes away from winning their first-ever playoff game.
But for all the talent the Balers bring back this season, so too do the Mustangs and Cowboys.
Salinas, which fell to San Benito twice last season by a combined two goals, finished a spot behind the Balers in third place a year ago, but graduated only four players. Gilroy, meanwhile, which posted a perfect 12-0 record en route to winning its fourth straight league title, graduated just one player.
In other words, the top three teams last year should very well be the same three teams at the top again this year.
But Alvarez feels his experience-laden midfielders, led by seniors Hannah Cobb, Daniela Ocampo and Sara Yamasaki, as well as sophomore Berniece Bribiesca, who deposited six goals for the Balers last year as a freshman, will be the key to not only controlling the midfield, but also the key to jumbling the TCAL order.
“We need to have really good passing and good team chemistry,” said Yamasaki, who returns as San Benito’s leading go-to player with a team-high 12 goals and eight assists from a year ago.
Although the latter requirement seems like a given, as several members of this year’s team have played together the last two seasons, Alvarez has included five freshmen to this year’s roster, including Alexandria Osborn, who started at fullback on Tuesday against Pioneer.
“We just need to work on some stuff a bit,” Yamasaki added.
On Tuesday, the Balers showed both ends of the spectrum when the midfield is won or lost.
In the first half against Pioneer, San Benito dominated the middle of the field and as a result grabbed an early lead in the 12th minute when an Ocampo corner kick was headed in by a leaping Yamasaki — the ball scraping off the bottom of the crossbar before finding the netting.
The 1-0 lead would hold for the remainder of the game, although the Balers had several other scoring chances in the first half, each led by Yamasaki.
“She’s the attacking mid,” Alvarez said. “I want Sara taking more shots than she did last year.”
All the momentum gained in the first half was wiped out in the latter, however. With the Balers cycling in different players — it was the first game of the season, after all — Pioneer took advantage and nearly found the equalizing goal on several different occasions.
“We didn’t have possession as much in the second half,” Yamasaki said. “We had possession in the first half, but we were chasing more in the second half instead of controlling.”
With Yamasaki as an attacking mid, Alvarez plans on using Ocampo and Bribiesca on the wings and Cobb as a “holding mid,” playing the role of distributor. The Balers also plan on utilizing a 4-4-2 — with the occasional 3-4-3 for additional offense — and will have speedy returners Karly Leon and Kelly Gottron up front.
“Once we control the middle, the speed will take over up front,” Alvarez said.
In the back, San Benito will look similar to what it was last season, as Marissa Adame, Nicole Yost and Tori Perez all return to their usual defensive positions.
Perhaps the biggest difference, and the biggest hole left by last year’s graduating seniors, will be the keeper position, however. Goalie Elizabeth Miller, a first team all-league selection a year ago, has departed, and Alvarez has two options this season in sophomore Marissa Espino and junior Anissa Stanton.
Espino will be the No. 1, although she is returning from a broken collarbone that she suffered while playing keeper for her club team in September.
Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Pioneer was her first game back from the injury.
“It was nerve-racking,” she said. “But I tried to keep it out of my head and just play.”
Espino was the goalie for the junior varsity team last year, and teamed up with Stanton on Tuesday to post a shutout — each goalie played one half.
“My brother played and my dad played, so I’ve been around it. But this is literally my first year playing goalie,” said Stanton, who also lines up on the left side of the defense. “I like it. It’s a lot of pressure, but it’s good. You’re always part of the game.”
With what San Benito has returned this season, though — at the front line, the midfield and in the back — and with what TCAL rivals Gilroy and Salinas bring back to the fold as well, both keepers are feeling the pressure to raise their game this season and provide a steady transition in net.
But neither of them see pressure as a negative.
Said Espino, “It pushes me to do better.”
