The referees during Tuesday’s Tri-County Athletic League boys
soccer match in Salinas couldn’t keep their hands down.
Both the Haybalers and the Cowboys received six yellow cards
each. The Balers also received two soft red cards, while the
Cowboys received one, forcing the teams to finish with a 9-on-8
matchup in the field.
The referees during Tuesday’s Tri-County Athletic League boys soccer match in Salinas couldn’t keep their hands down.
Both the Haybalers and the Cowboys received six yellow cards each. The Balers also received two soft red cards, while the Cowboys received one, forcing the teams to finish with a 9-on-8 matchup in the field.
“Their coach told me he had never seen anything like it,” said Baler coach Mike Warner on the plethora of penalties. “Both teams had to face the same problem. We must regain our focus and composure if we are to win the next game against Palma.”
The Balers (4-6-2, 1-2-1 TCAL) were already coming into the game short-handed. Starting sweeper Gilbert Bailon was sitting out his first of what is expected to be a two-game suspension after receiving a red card against North Salinas. Bailon was replaced by freshman call-up Carlos Vazquez.
San Benito was also without starting forwards Jonathan Alonso, Jesus Ramos and reserve forward Fausto Andrade due to personal issues.
With most of the offense already out, the Balers received the two red cards in the second half to starters Jorge Lopez and Martin Medina.
But the Balers came out strong to start the game. Sophomore Randell Lopez hit the crossbar on a breakaway attempt with an explosive shot at the 17-minute mark. And the Balers followed with repeated shots on net.
Ernesto Lostanau and two Salinas players received yellow cards in the first half of this hard-fought contest. The Balers missed numerous chances to score and allowed the Cowboys (7-4-3, 1-2-1 TCAL) to hold on until the half ended without a goal.
The second half started and ended with yellow cards flying for both sides. Kevin Vieirra and Luis Vazquez were carded early, and Jorge Lopez received a yellow and red card.
“Things started falling apart in the second half, and we lost our composure,” Warner said. “Salinas played a heck of a game. They were really disciplined and played really energized in the second half. You let a team hang around and bad things can happen.”
Salinas pushed the play and sent a ball deep down the sideline to their top scorer, who backed hard into the Baler defender, knocking him down and then turning and rifling a blast past a defenseless Jorge Medina at the 68-minute mark.
The Balers started to attack Salinas before another red card ended any chance the Balers had to even the score.
Keeper Jorge Medina was yellow carded and sent to the bench. He was replaced by Luis Vazquez for the final four minutes of the game.
“We had every conceivable chance to win this game, but we just couldn’t finish our runs to the net,” Warner said. “We carried the play and adapted well to the artificial surface, but came up short due to a depleted roster.”
JV Note: The JV boys continued their high-scoring streak with a 4-1 win over Salinas. Again the Balers allowed the opposition to score first. Salinas put in a goal seven minutes into the game off a well-timed throw-in.
But from there it was all Balers. Joel Aguilar scored at the 15:30 mark. Miguel Guzman scored off an assist from Armando Espinoza at 19:00. And Jose Diaz DeLeon put in his second goal in the last two games with a penalty kick to give the Balers a 3-1 advantage at the half.
Jose Serrano scored his first goal of the season at 6:15 in the second half to end the day’s scoring.
“I was particularly pleased with the support we have received from our bench these past two games.” said coach Graham Wright. “Players like Rafael Garcia, Alejandro Ceja, Jorge Ortega, Harrison Yager and Cesar Cabrera provided the defense we needed late in the game to keep the other teams out of the net and the offense to keep things interesting.”
The JV team was coming off of a 4-0 win against North Salinas with two goals from Guzman and goals from Ramon Orozco and Aguilar. Espinoza had two assists in the game.
The Balers (6-4-2, 3-0-1 TCAL) take on visiting Palma on Thursday at 4 p.m.
