After three straight games that ended in a scoreless tie, the
San Benito girls soccer team entered the Burlingame Tournament last
Saturday searching not only for goals, but also wins. So far, they
are 2 for 2.
BURLINGAME
After three straight games that ended in a scoreless tie, the San Benito girls soccer team entered the Burlingame Tournament last Saturday searching not only for goals, but also wins.
So far, they are 2 for 2.
The Haybalers opened tournament play last Saturday by delivering a 1-0 victory over Mercy, then followed the win with a 2-0 victory over Mills on Monday, supplying San Benito with a perfect record with one game to play.
The Balers will square off against El Camino on Wednesday in Burlingame.
“No more ties,” San Benito head coach Ben Alvarez said. “We had a talk about what we needed to do, what we needed to get done in this tournament.”
And through two matches, the Balers have reached both goals.
Saturday’s win ended a streak of three scoreless ties for San Benito, which battled to 0-0 results against Milpitas, Sobrato and Santa Cruz.
But after going 60 minutes into Saturday’s game against Mercy with similar results, the Balers managed to finally end their scoreless streak when Karly Leon pocketed an unassisted goal — the game’s lone score.
“We took that team out of position really easily and confused the defense,” said Alvarez, who was constantly switching formations in the game, from a 4-4-2 to a 3-4-3 and back again.
The result netted the Balers 17 shots on goal — a statistic that was held to single digits during San Benito’s earlier games.
Two days later, on Monday, San Benito followed its victory over Mercy with a win against Mills, scoring two goals in the first half.
“We wanted to test the defense immediately,” said Alvarez, whose team initially attacked the right side before switching its efforts back to the left side.
“We wanted to see what their defense had,” Alvarez added. “Opportunities kept coming.”
Kelly Gottron, on an assist by Leon, pushed the Balers ahead in the 29th minute, then returned the favor in the 35th minute by assisting on a goal to Leon.
The Balers played defensive in the second half, protecting their two-goal cushion. And it’s been the defense that has remained flawless throughout the season.
With two more shutouts to its name, San Benito’s defense has yet to allow a goal this season, through seven games or 560 minutes of soccer.
The Balers are now 4-0-3 overall this year.
San Benito will meet El Camino on Wednesday in the third and final game of the Burlingame Tournament. Kickoff is 3:30 p.m.
Game 1
TEAM 1 2 F
SANB 0 1 1
MERC 0 0 0
Game 2
TEAM 1 2 F
SANB 2 0 2
MILL 0 0 0
