The Turlock Christian High boys soccer team is on a roll, after defeating Delta Charter for the second time this season following a 3-2 win on Tuesday that saw a second half surge put them over their opponent for the second time this season.
“They didn’t have their head coach last game, which makes a big difference and they changed their style of play and we were prepared for them like last time,” said head coach Tevin Jones. “But they came with a different defensive scheme this time and so we made adjustments at halftime and we came out and scored the three goals, so it worked out, but they played a lot better this time.”
TC’s Yehjune Heo scored a pair of goals while Micah Bergthold notched another and the Eagles secured their fourth win of the season over the last five games.
TC also defeated Delta Charter back on Dec. 20 in a 5-0 shutout.
Following the win, their three-game winning streak was snapped when they fell to Stone Ridge Christian in the opening contest of the Central California Athletic Alliance after a 2-0 loss last Thursday.
“It was not bad since it was over Christmas break and we had some players missing,” said Jones.
They got all those players back just in time for Tuesday’s non-league showdown with Delta Charter.
Despite winning, it was a slow start.
In the first half, Delta Charter took the 1-0 lead after a goal in the 21st minute.
Down 1-0 at the half, Jones decided to change things up heading into the second half.
“So, what I did was last time they tried playing a flat four and played the offside trap and got balls behind, but this time when we tried to get the balls behind,” said Jones. “They dropped back further so I played two attacking mids that were not as high up, so we used that gap.”
It took all but five minutes for TC to get on the board after Heo found his first of two goals after Bergthold set him up nicely with a through pass into the penalty box.
From there, Heo split the defenders and beat the opposing goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation, drilling the ball from about 10 yards out to tie the game at 1-1 by the 45th.
Five minutes later, Bergthold found the back of the net after a steal allowed him to shoot at the back of the net from nearly 17 yards away from the top of the penalty box to make it 2-1.
Heo got his second goal for TC at the 73rd minute when he beat the final defender with his speed and finally struck the back of the net around the goalkeeper in another one-on-one that made it 3-1.
Delta got their second goal in the final seconds of the game to end it 3-2.
“The win helps with the team chemistry. We got a win under our belts and the kids are excited and got some energy and look forward to league so a good stepping stone,” Jones added. “Our league is tough because there are only two playoff spots. We’re going to keep battling for that and we have some good freshmen, I am excited for the future for sure and our current team is good with plenty of senior leaders on defense.”
TC is now 4-7-1 overall and 0-1 in CCAA play so far.
TC will travel to Millennium for their second league game at 10 a.m. Saturday.
