It was a battle between the two winless soccer teams in the Central California Conference.
Turlock High’s Adrian Ruedas scored the game tying goal late in the second half to tie the game at 1-1 against Buhach Colony in Thursday’s league showdown, and both teams ended up with a draw, ending their CCC losing streak.
“I am not upset with the result but more so just the level of energy and intensity that we played with,” said Turlock head coach Doug Sperry. “We were a bit unorganized and took a while to adjust to the type of field, but Buhach took it to us and they outworked us and played very well, they just outworked us.”
The Bulldogs came in with a four-game losing streak while the Thunder of BC were on a three game skid heading into Thursday’s contest.
BC scored their first goal of the game just 15 minutes into the first half after Turlock left a player unmarked and allowed for the open look and score.
Turlock kept calm and picked up the pace of the game and intensity but—again—it took some time for the young ‘Dogs to ease into the game.
“We buckled down after the goal and that is how league had gone for us thus far,” Sperry said. “We start off real slow, it takes about 20 minutes to kind of get our feet under us and get things going and that was the case again today.”
It did not help that Turlock played in a neutral site at Pitman’s soccer complex and with the addition of early rain, the field was not in the best of shape for a game.
“The field was not to our advantage but both teams had to play in it and the fields are not in good shape,” Sperry said. “It was real soggy and getting our footing down was difficult and I just don’t think to adjust or it took a while longer than we thought.”
Turlock and BC matched each other with the physicality of the game being played and it was a 50-50 game until the final minutes of the contest.
In the 60th minute, Marcus DeCouto of Turlock shot from 18 yards out but he got just under the shot as it barely missed the far post.
“At times we played really well all year and then at times we played pretty poorly, but I think we are better than how we are playing right now,” Sperry said. “It’s a point of frustration because I think we are capable of doing much better.”
About eight minutes later, Turlock’s opportunity came after a fast break allowed Jonah Knapp enough time to give a one-touch pass over the defenders head into a lead pass to Ruedas who struck a one footed volley to the far post corner for the game tying score.
“The kids have been doing a good job sticking with it, especially later on in the game when we have been down or up and been close,” Sperry added. “For the most part everybody played hard and showed resiliency, it just wasn’t good enough.”
Turlock is now 0-4-1 in the CCC and 3-7-5 overall for the year.
Turlock will travel to Atwater next week to take on first place Atwater High in CCC showdown at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
