Through 12 games this season, the defense for the San Benito
Haybalers has been stout, allowing all of four goals in roughly 930
minutes of soccer
HOLLISTER
Nicole Yost had a pretty good idea of how strong San Benito’s defense might be this season. How else do you explain the fact that one of her goals this year was to see the Balers post a season-long shutout?
Yep, that’s right. A goose egg for the opposition, for 20 straight games.
That’s how much confidence she had in the defense, and she believed it was realistic.
“We’ve just been working really well together this year,” said Yost, a four-year varsity player on defense, who helps anchor a back line for the Balers that, at times, includes Marissa Adame, Tori Perez, Kaitlyn Fontaine, Alexandria Osborn, Amanda Alvarez and Ilana Woods, many of whom have come up through the Hollister Tremors organization and have been playing together since the were 11 and 12 years old.
“We’re just working really well as a team, whether its three (defenders) in the back or four (defenders) in the back,” added Yost, referring to the two different defensive formations the team has employed this season.
“It’s a bond that’s unexplainable.”
Of course, wild and crazy predictions made in the offseason are often quickly changed in the regular season. Reality sets in, and keeping the opponent off the scoreboard for 20 straight games proves to be a far more difficult task than at first expected.
But really, Yost doesn’t appear to have been too far off with her forecast, which says a ton about the defense’s performance this season — a seemingly ridiculous prediction has nearly been backed up on the field.
Through 12 games this season, including one against Gilroy, which scored nine times in a game against San Benito less than a year ago, the Balers’ back line has surrendered all of four goals.
That impressive mark includes nine shutouts and seven in a row to start the season, which saw San Benito silence Pioneer, San Lorenzo Valley, Milpitas, Sobrato, Santa Cruz, Mercy and Mills.
It didn’t allow a goal until the eighth game of the season, when San Benito finally relinquished a pair against El Camino in a 2-2 tie. The South San Francisco school scored in the 38th minute of the contest, ending the Balers’ streak at roughly 578 minutes of scoreless soccer to start the season.
“That was a wake-up call. It woke all the defenders up,” Yost said of the two goals allowed.
Once the streak was over, once El Camino found the back of the net and Yost’s goal of a season-long shutout was no more, San Benito still stuck to the plan. It silenced its next two opponents, including Salinas, which has deposited a league-high 37 goals in 13 games.
“They’re working so well, I can’t say enough about them,” said head coach Ben Alvarez, who began to tweak the defense toward the tail end of last season, moving away from a sweeper/stopper formation and more toward a “flat-four” defense through a 4-4-2 formation, as well as a 3-4-3 set that is considered to be heavily offensive — the type of set that would be employed when a team is trailing by multiple goals.
“We have more offense with three (defenders) back,” Yost said. “But we’re learning to put more trust in each other in the back.”
Perhaps due to the amount of confidence the coaching staff has in its defense, though, the Balers have actually been employing the 3-4-3 set more often recently, but the goals against haven’t necessarily shown up on the scoreboard.
“The mids are doing a good job. They’re dropping back when they’re supposed to drop,” Alvarez said. “But (the 3-4-3) is working for us and the kids are very confident with it. As long as they’re confident, we’ll keep using it.”
Though a self-described offensive-minded coach, Alvarez said he’s seen the benefits of his defensive-minded assistants, Victor Perez, who helps coach the defense, and Kate Berryhill, who has taken over the coaching duties with the keepers.
Berryhill’s job has been two-fold, though. With San Benito opting to play two different goalies in each game — one for each half — the former keeper from Piedmont Hills High has had to prepare both Marissa Espino and Anissa Stanton for varsity action.
A two-goalie approach isn’t always a recipe for a shutout, but San Benito has found a way to make it work.
“It’s just basic fundamentals, with a little bit of a mental game,” Berryhill said. “I’m very happy. Every day is better with Anissa and Marissa.”
The goalie situation, at least on the surface, didn’t appear air-tight at the beginning of the season. Espino was returning from a broken collarbone she suffered while playing for her club team in September, while Stanton was preparing for her very first season in net.
But with four goals allowed and a 7-0-5 combined overall record, things appear to be going just fine for the Baler keepers.
“Nine shutouts. Any goalie coach is gonna be happy with that stat,” Berryhill said. “And it’s both of them. There’s usually not a lot of teamwork with goalies.”
Early-season timidness has all but disappeared, too. Berryhill is able to break down the game with whomever is not playing, turning every shot on net into a game moment for the substitute.
“It was great seeing how it worked out. They’ve worked so well in each half,” Berryhill said.
None of this is to say San Benito’s defense was porous a year ago. It wasn’t. It allowed a respectable 11 goals through 12 games to start the season, with its 5-1 loss to Santa Cruz altering the goals-against average.
But post enough zeros, and it tends to stand out.
Victor Perez said the defense is playing a little more organized and is a little more coordinated under the new defensive formations this year, feeling the concept of movement is easier to grasp in the 4-4-2 and 3-4-3 than it was in the sweeper/stopper sets.
“They just work well as a team,” Perez said. “There’s no magic formula except hard work.”
And right now, Alvarez and the coaching staff are hoping the hard work continues through the remaining eight games of the regular-season schedule, and perhaps right into the postseason where the Balers have never been able to post a “W”.
San Benito will host Alisal Tuesday at 3:30 p.m., and will kickoff the second half of its league schedule next Monday.
“As long as they are confident back there, we’ll keep it,” Alvarez said of the 3-4-3. “Why change things if they’re not broken?”
San Benito 7, Notre Dame 1
The San Benito girls’ soccer team defeated host Notre Dame by a 7-1 margin on Friday in Tri-County Athletic League action. The win improves the Balers to 3-0-1 in the TCAL, 7-0-5 overall. Karly Leon led the team with two goals scored on Friday, while Sara Yamasaki, Daniela Ocampo, Berniece Bribiesca, Cynthia Trujillo and Dez Martin each added a goal.
