San Benito scores first league win with 3-0 victory at
Alisal
SALINAS
It’s not necessarily the shot total San Benito head coach Ben Alvarez was hoping to see, but he’ll certainly take the near-perfect scoring percentage.
With just four shots on net through 80 minutes of soccer, the Lady ‘Balers found the back of the net three times en route to a 3-0 victory at Alisal Wednesday in their first league win of the season.
San Benito is now 1-0-1 in the Tri-County Athletic League. Due to the holiday break, it was San Benito’s first league game since Dec. 12 when they tied Notre Dame 0-0.
But Alvarez said the team wasn’t on vacation through the holidays. In fact, practices were held inside at one of San Benito’s gymnasiums in order to mimic the fast-paced surfaces of the turf fields the Lady ‘Balers will be frequently competing on in the TCAL.
“It forces us to react faster and I think it really helped them out,” Alvarez said. “They didn’t really have a lot of time off. We practiced a lot … We practiced a lot on that surface and it paid off.
“Once we went outside, we knew how to open up the field.”
Alvarez’ shoot-now-shoot-often philosophy wasn’t carried out in the victory on Wednesday, however. But San Benito’s 75 percent scoring percentage ensured a win, nonetheless.
“That’s an outstanding percentage,” Alvarez said.
Sophie Coelho put San Benito up in the 11th minute off an assist from Sara Yamasaki, while Hannah Cobb scored her 14th goal of the season in the 35th minute to send the Lady ‘Balers to halftime with a two-goal lead.
“We controlled the ball,” Alvarez said. “The passing was outstanding, but we were unable to get any shots.”
Christiana Perez tacked on another score in the 69th minute on an assist from Coelho.
“From there I just decided to hold the line and give everybody a break and play defense,” Alvarez said, “and it worked for us.
“Alisal was strong and they had some good players, but our girls were ready.”
Keeper Elizabeth Miller ensured Alisal’s goose egg on Wednesday when she made 19 saves.
The Trojans fall to 1-2 in the TCAL, 5-3-2 overall.
San Benito (9-1-2) will host North Salinas (0-2-0 TCAL, 6-3-1 overall) Friday at 3:30 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 F
SAN 2 1 3
ALI 0 0 0
