‘Balers allow goal in final minute as Trojans rally for 2-1
victory
Hollister – San Benito delivered its best performance of the season, but that still wasn’t enough to knock off first place Alisal in Tri-County Athletic League boys soccer action Friday.
The Haybalers (2-7-2, 1-3-1) matched every move of the Trojans (8-2-6, 3-0-2), who are ranked second in the Central Coast Section. But Alisal’s Juan Carlos Gonzalez spoiled it when he scored his second goal of the game in the 79th minute to hand San Benito a 2-1 defeat.
“This is a tough one,” ‘Balers coach Juan Carlos Martinez said. “We had a lot of plays. I was expecting a tie. … It would have been a tie with a taste of a win.”
“This shows that we can play against any team,” senior defender Christian Mercado added. “But we’ve got to keep that score. We can’t let them score at the end.”
San Benito actually came eerily close to taking the lead late in this one, which could have drastically altered the game’s ending.
In the 77th minute, the ‘Balers’ Allen Nieves sent a pass to Jose Grandaos, who kicked a looping shot that arced over the goalkeeper’s reach before hitting off the top crossbar. Alisal cleared the ball out and that proved to be San Benito’s last strong scoring opportunity.
The ‘Balers did have the lead for a short period in the first half. In the 23rd minute, Mercado took a pass from Efrain Espinoza and rifled it into the net for a 1-0 advantage.
“The ball just came down to me and I had no hesitation, I just shot it,” Mercado said.
The Trojans answered eight minutes later when a shot from about 30 yards out was saved by San Benito goalkeeper Eddie Trujillo, but the rebound settled in front of the net where Martinez was waiting for it and knocked it home to tie it up.
The ‘Balers defense responded after that and did well to keep Alisal from attacking and Trujillo, who returned to the keeper position after the team lost Daniel Lozano to eligibility issues, had a strong game in front of the net.
“This builds up the team’s confidence,” Trujillo said of the effort. “I think we should’ve won.”
San Benito returns to TCAL action Monday at Salinas at 6pm and hopes to bring the same type of intensity.
“The way we played today, we’ll take that into the Salinas game,” Trujillo said. “I’d hate to be Salinas right now.”
Mercado agreed that this game should bring the team confidence and said it’ll need to learn to play up to its capabilities each game.
“We need to just keep consistent in each game and throughout each game,” he said.
