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Late header lifts Bulldogs over Pride in boys match
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Turlock midfielder Kurtis Silveira drew praise from both Bulldog and Pride coaches on Wednesday night, as he was able to help his team maintain possession and remain on the offensive for most of the contest (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

A goal in the 59th minute off the head of Turlock junior Pablo Alvarez was the difference on Wednesday night at Joe Debely Stadium as the Bulldogs earned their first win of Central California Athletic League competition over the Pitman Pride, 1-0.

The win puts the Bulldogs back in the conversation for the CCAL title and for a berth to the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs, as their overall season record jumped to 6-3-4 and their league record improved to 1-2. Meanwhile, the Pride’s overall record dropped to 6-7-7 and are now third-place in league with a 2-1 record.

Alvarez’s header was just one of many shots on goal attempted by the Bulldogs, who controlled the time of possession for nearly the entire game. The ball was delivered in front of the net by way of a free kick. Once delivered, it ricocheted off of multiple Turlock and Pitman players before finding Alvarez.

“​​I saw it coming,” Alvarez said. “The ball ended up going over me. I looked back, and there ended up being about five headers. Before you know it, it was coming to me. I knew there was a (opposing) player right there with me, so I had to get  over him, and I did and it went in.”

Alvarez ran towards the fans on the home side of the stadium, going to his knees and sliding almost 10 yards before being mobbed by his teammates. He described the moment as a turning point for the game and his team’s season.

“It felt really good. I had to do it for my team,” he said. “It’s a nice team and we appreciate the support from the fans. It feels good to score and to win, and I feel like from now on, things are going to be different. We had two losses, but now we have a different mindset.”

Turlock coach Froylane Flores shared similar sentiments.

“We had to set the tone at home,” he said. “We had two tough losses at Enochs and Gregori away, but I told them, ‘Hey, let's flip the switch here. This is the biggest game yet. We can still take the league title. This is where we start.’ We had to start winning, and now, we can’t stop. We need to keep it going.”

Goalkeeping for the Pride was junior Issac Padilla, who transferred from Hilmar. Despite not being able to block the ball knocked in from Alvarez, he had six saves on the day, including a pair of diving stops in the first half that kept the match scoreless. Pitman head coach Manny Romero praised his efforts, explaining that you could only block so many attempts, alluding to the fact that the Bulldogs attempted seven shots compared to his team’s two.

“Issac has stepped up to the challenge ever since he got cleared to play,” Romero said. “He has been great. He’s going to keep being great. He's a junior and I have him for one more year, so I hope he just continues to learn more, develop and keeps growing… But we can’t give a team like that so many chances with the ball. They were just way better than us on the ball.”

Romero gave an abundance of credit to Turlock’s sophomore midfielder Kurtis Silveira.

“They have players that are capable of keeping the ball, especially Kurtis. He balled out today. He showed us what a good midfielder is and what a good player can do to us if we play like that again.

“That was not a team that I had coached,” Romero said of his team’s effort. “That was the first time we played like that, and it was shocking. They had the ball the entire time because we let them. We were not keeping the ball as a result of our poor technicality. They had great technique. It’s my job as coach to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

 

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Pitman’s Jasmine De Alva battles for the ball with Turlock’s Eliza Roque in the second half of a 0-0 draw on Wednesday night at Pitman High (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

Girls rivalry game ends in scoreless draw

Like the boys game across town that took place at the same time Wednesday night, the girls match between the Pride and Bulldogs under the lights at Pitman High School saw the ball controlled predominantly by one team. Instead of it being the Bulldogs, as it was at Joe Debely Stadium, it was the Pride who controlled the pace, having the ball in their possession for roughly 80 percent of the time.

Despite possessing the ball for most of the minutes, the Pride were unable to find the back of the net. Their best chance came late in the first half, when a strike off the foot of Jasmine De Alva from about 20 yards out struck the crossbar and landed down in front of the goal line.

Pitman (4-1-4 overall) remains tied with Gregori for first place in the CCAL with a 2-0-1 record. Turlock (1-9-3 overall), on the other hand, remain winless in league play with an 0-2-1 record, leaving them in fourth place.