After spending nearly 60 minutes in a scoreless tie with Scotts Valley on Tuesday, San Benito finally got on the board after the Falcons’ backup goalie mishandled a shot from outside the box.
Sprinting to the ball, San Benito’s Kenny Hastings slid at the ball – which rested at the goalie’s feet – and gave the Balers the game’s lead.
At that moment, San Benito looked to be in full control of the game, after handling the ball for the majority of the game’s 60 minutes.
But for the fourth game in a row, San Benito struggled to put away its opponent.
In what has become a common theme among the Balers’ first five games, San Benito began to turn the ball over with the lead, and watched its offensive opportunities dwindle.
The diminishing offensive output and kick-first defense gave the Falcons one opportunity – one they wouldn’t let go.
In the game’s 65th minute the Falcons were rewarded a penalty kick after a Baler penalty inside the goalie box. The Falcons’ Charlie Stock easily placed the kick through the keeper to tie up the game at 1-1.
Neither team would get another golden opportunity for the rest of the game, as most of the play stayed around midfield.
Despite the tie, head coach Tony Deras was happy with the play of his team.
“Well, it was a better game then we have done in the past,” he said. “But I wasn’t happy with the result. We controlled the game. We dominated and they only had a couple of opportunities. But they took advantage of the P.K., but that’s soccer right?”
The biggest improvement for the Balers was their aggressive defense that attacked the ball.
“We just wanted the ball,” Deras said. “That was the message at the beginning. Just go get the ball.”
He continued, “Midfielders were chasing the ball and they were playing on their side because that’s where we wanted it.”
Hastings, who scored the Balers’ lone goal, thought the team was starting to play better overall, he said.
“I feel like each game we are getting stronger,” he said. “We started out a little rough but we are starting to work better. We are playing harder teams but we are starting to work a little better.”
The team still needs to improve its communication, he said.
“The problem that we were having is our communication still,” he said.”We need to communicate more so we can help each other and get into open spaces more. And we just need to work together a little better. We are trying really hard to work together as a team.”
And the results from the Oak Grove Gold Cup show that the Balers, now 1-1-3, are struggling to keep leads.
So far this year, San Benito has led in all but one of their games, but only have one win to show for it.
For Deras, the key for improvement is the team’s defense. Deras hopes the team continues to play aggressive and forcing teams to make turnovers.
“We want to pressure them,” he said. “That’s what our goals is to always have a strong D, but we always end up giving up goals on a set piece or a P.K.”
Regardless of the team’s third tie, Tuesday’s game was the Balers most consistent of the young season, he said.
“It was better than the previous games. The other games have been really bad,” Deras said. “Today, they wanted the ball and we did not let the opponent have the ball. I also saw some consistency from the first and second halves.”
San Benito travel to Yerba Buena High in San Jose on Thursday.
The Balers play Saratoga’s Prospect High in the final game of the Oak Grove Gold Cup on Saturday at 3 p.m.
