For the opening half of the first game of the 2011-12 season Tuesday, the San Benito boys soccer team was stuck trying to turn its many chances into goals that never came.
The second half, though, was an entirely different story. The Balers struck for four goals in the final 40 minutes to run away with a 5-0 win over St. Francis C.C. Catholic.
In the first half of the game, the Balers cared more about preventing St. Francis from scoring than scoring themselves, junior Ricardo Roque said.
“He (head coach Tony Deras) told us in the first half to stay back so we won’t force it as much,” Roque said. “The second half was more attacking. The first half, we have to make sure they don’t score on us and the second half give it our all.”
The Balers still controlled the ball for a majority of the first half of the game, as St. Francis only had a couple of opportunities at the net. Most of the ball possession was on the St. Francis side of the field and in the Balers’ offensive end.
“In the first half, we couldn’t score but you have to be patient, and that’s the message I give them all the time – just be patient with the ball,” Deras said. “We must have the ball and that’s it. In the second, we had the ball and they got tired and we took advantage of that.”
After multiple chances at the net, Martin Navarro finally put the Balers on the board after he received a through pass to the right of the net. Navarro quickly fired the ball at the net and scored.
In the second half, it was more of the same for San Benito.
Led by the foot of Roque, San Benito tallied four goals in the final 40 minutes.
Roque was responsible for three of the goals. In the opening moments of the second half, Roque took a through-pass from Kenneth Hastings up the middle of the field.
Running away from the defender, Roque fired a shot at the top of the goalie box that skipped past the outstretched arms of the St. Francis keeper.
Ten minutes later – the game’s 51st minute – Roque added another goal as he sliced through a pair of defenders to give himself an open shot. “I was just in my position,” he said. “I don’t know, they gave me the passes and I had to finish it.”
In the 65 minute, Roque set up Hastings on a long pass, that gave the midfielder an open run at the net.
Hastings, who had trouble with his footing throughout the game, slipped the shot pass the St. Francis keeper to extend the Baler lead to 4-0.
Leonardo Vaca added the Balers’ final goal five minutes later.
The win gives the Balers an impressive start to the new season, where the Balers hope to improve on their 6-5-1 Tri-County Athletic League and 12-5-2 overall records from a year ago.
Last year was the Balers first winning season since 2002, but Deras’ expectations are to repeat that success. And despite the win, Deras wants better play from his team.
“This game is going to help us build confidence – that’s all,” he said. “We still have to improve. We have to improve a lot more. This is only the first game, we had a lot of mistakes in the back, a lot of errors in the middle. We have to fix those – we just have to work on that.”
Roque believes it’s only a start.
“I think we have good confidence in the team,” he said, “and I think we will do good this season.”
To do that, the team needs to continue to work together, Deras said.
“To continue working as a team – that’s what they need to understand,” Deras said. “It still seems they want to work individually.”
The Balers travel to Christopher High on Thursday.
