Hollister coach Juan Martinez ejected for a second-straight
game, will miss Thursday’s contest against Live Oak
Salinas– the San Benito High boys soccer team has had an up-and-down week.
The up: Defeating Salinas on a 6-1 rout last Friday to improve to 1-1 in TCAL play. The down: Head coach Juan Carlos Martinez has been ejected from two games over the course of the last eight days, first against North Salinas last Wednesday and then again yesterday as the Balers traveled to Salinas to face Palma at the Sports Complex.
Even worse for the team, both of the recent games that saw Martinez ejected also saw the Haybalers lose.
And oddly enough, the same referee who gave Martinez his first red card last week was also on the field for Wednesday’s game.
Martinez’s infraction of the rules was serious enough, he admits to using an expletive in an attempt to motivate his team from the sideline, but the San Benito coach was given no warning and no yellow card before he was forced to leave the field.
“Come on guys, let’s play soccer Goddamnit!”
That did it. That’s what got Martinez ejected from the game.
“I was wrong for saying that,” Martinez said. “But the ref should have said to me ‘Hey, if you don’t watch it, I’m going to give you a yellow card and next time, I’ll give you a red.’ Now, I have to miss our next game.”
Aside from the controversy, it was a good match that featured intense play from both of the teams. Frankie Frutos scored first to give Hollister the lead but Palma was able to tie things up shortly after when a Baler mistake resulted in an own goal and a score for the Chieftains.
The teams ended the half tied 1-1 and Hollister was faced with the daunting task of breaking the tie against a tough team without the assistance of their head coach.
The Balers played a tough second half on both sides of the ball. Jaime Torres, Christian Mercado and Mauricio Campos put a lot of pressure on the Palma defense and Alejandro Ceja did a good job of containing the Chieftain’s most powerful scorer, Silvano Botta.
But Botta got his chance and he made the most of it. The Palma forward was awarded a penalty shot late in the game and was able to put one past the Hollister keeper for the game-winning goal.
“We need to fix this,” Martinez said. “These things shouldn’t be happening, especially when this supposed to be about fun.”
Martinez is planning to sit down with league authorities as soon as possible to straighten out the situation.
In the meantime, the Balers have some important games coming up with Live Oak coming to town tomorrow, Gilroy on January 24 and North Salinas on the 29th.
