After a scoreless first half Tuesday night at Joe Debely Stadium, senior Fernando Carbajal netted a pair of goals to help lift the Turlock High varsity boys soccer team to a 5-0 victory over Gregori.
The Bulldogs improved to 4-0 in the Central California Athletic League and to 6-2-4 overall, while the Jaguars dropped to 0-1-3 in conference play and 6-3-5 overall.
The Jaguars had battled to scoreless draws against reigning Sac-Joaquin Section Division II champion Pitman and Modesto in their previous two outings, as well as a 1-1 result against Downey to kick off the regular season, and Turlock head coach Jose Garcia Alonso acknowledged that their opponent gave his team a far tougher challenge than what the final score showed.
“Gregori, that’s a tough team, and we knew that very well coming into this one,” Garcia Alonso said. “Going 0-0 into halftime tells you a lot, but this is a team that always believes in themselves and never gives up. Our struggle sometimes has been scoring, but once we get that first one, it seems like everything goes our way.”
It was certainly the case Tuesday, as Carbajal broke the scoreless tie in the 54th minute. Running in the open field, Carbajal received a timely pass from senior teammate Mario Chavez. With just the goalkeeper in front of him, he fired a roller into the back right corner of the net.
Four minutes later, senior Manuel Guerrero delivered a crosser to the back left corner of the net to make it 2-0. Three minutes after that, Chavez unleashed a 30-yard strike past the goalkeeper to increase the lead.
In the 68th minute, Guerrero found Carbajal again behind the defensive line, who made it a 4-0 match with an easy dribbler into the goal.
“Those were some good runs, but even better balls from my teammates,” Carbajal said. “I only had to put the ball in the back of the net.”
Simple enough. He’s been doing it all year, as he is now responsible for 11 points this season, including a team-high five goals.
Teammate, senior Diego Alvarez, made the final with just as much ease a minute later, when a shot rebounded off the goalkeeper and right into his possession, allowing him to tap it in for the score.
The Bulldogs, controlling possession for most of the 80 minutes, tallied 14 total shots, including eight shots on goal. The Jaguars only got off five shots, three saved by senior goalie Kevin Ramirez.
“It got physical in the second half, but every game's going to be physical, so that's just what we expect,” Carbajal said. “And obviously we expect to win, so I guess the result is nothing new to us.”
“Tonight was our night,” Garcia Alonso said. “It was a great showing.”
Next up for the Bulldogs is the Pride on Thursday night, again under the lights of Joe Debely Stadium. Turlock’s crosstown rival blanked Modesto, 2-0, on Tuesday night to improve to 10-1-1 overall and to 2-0-1 in league play. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.
“We keep this going by having very intense practice sessions,” Carbajal said. “Our coaches will push us to be better.”
After edging the Pride for the CCAL title last year and appearing in the section’s Division I semifinals, Carbajal believes Thursday is one of the first hurdles in achieving even loftier goals.
“Our goal is to go undefeated in league and get our first ring in sections,” he said.
