Hollister Soccer League championship is Sunday
The scene has been set for this weekends Hollister Soccer League
championship game.
After two rough and tumble games last Sunday, Hollister Super
will meet San Gabriel this Sunday morning at San Benito High School
for the right to call themselves champions.
Hollister Soccer League championship is Sunday
The scene has been set for this weekends Hollister Soccer League championship game.
After two rough and tumble games last Sunday, Hollister Super will meet San Gabriel this Sunday morning at San Benito High School for the right to call themselves champions.
San Gabriel defeated Gallos Blancos 3-1 in the first semifinal game while Hollister Super beat Zamora 2-0 in the nightcap.
“We’re happy,” said Hollister forward Luis Acevedo. “We played good. It was a tough game. We’re glad we won.”
The Hollister Super team, which has 18 players on its roster at least 30 years old, has one more hurdle to clear, and that’s a San Gabriel team that is just as quick, or quicker than the Zamora squad.
“It will be a good game,” said Acevedo, 38.
Acevedo and his teammates will have time to rest their achy bones and prepare for San Gabriel.
The Hollister Super team expects the championship game to be just as physically demanding as the Zamora contest. Hollister Super kept pace with the younger Zamora squad by counterattacking Zamora’s aggressiveness with concise passing and a stout defense.
Hollister striker Ramon Mendoza got things going early when he converted a steal into a sweet goal.
From the opening whistle, Hollister Super kept the ball on its side of the pitch by stripping the Zamora forwards whenever they tried to advance the ball. Just after Zamora goalie Horacio Hernandez batted away an attempt, Hollister’s Adan De Leon stole the ball and skipped a pass to a streaking Mendoza.
Mendoza sprinted to the ball, which had hit a notch on the field and bounced past the Zamora defender.
With only Hernandez to beat, Mendoza dribbled to his right and fired a shot that ended up in the upper left hand corner of the net.
Subsequent to the goal Hollister continued to apply pressure to Hernandez, who withstood the test.
Mendoza broke free again and was primed to score another goal when the bumpy Rancho San Justo field caused a funny hop and caused Mendoza to break his stride. This allowed the Zamora defense to catch up with Mendoza and poke the ball away.
When Mendoza made a break for the ball, it seemed to catch the Zamora defense off guard and allowed Mendoza to squeeze off a shot but Hernandez made a headlong save.
By the end of the first half, Hollister Super set a physical tone, wore down Zamora and controlled the pace.
Zamora put up a fight in the second half, but Hollister goalie Adan Garcia went on a tear, knocking away eight attempts on his way to 14.
Hollister Super iced the game when its 46-year old forward Alejandro Vasquez scored on a fastbreak.
Vasquez kicked one past the outstretched arms of Hernandez and seemed to rejuvenate the Hollister defense, which had a few narrow escapes.
Judging from the painful winces and glum faces it was tough to tell who won the physical match-up at first. After walking off some of the aches the Hollister Super players celebrated its HSL championship berth with handshakes and hearty pats on the back.
