August 30 Soccer and Volleyball Results - Stories Below

Girls JV Soccer:
International 1-0 Christian Learning
Cooperative 4-0 Cambridge

Girls Varsity Soccer:
International 5-0 Christian Learning
Cooperative 7-0 Cambridge

Boys JV Volleyball:
Cambridge 2 sets to 0 Cooperative
International 2 sets to 0 Christian Learning

Boys Varsity Volleyball:
Cooperative 2 sets to 1 Cambridge
International 2 sets to 0 Christian Learning

Varsity Boys Volleyball - August 30th

Jaguars Defeat Knights 2-1
By David Boldt


        The extensively retooled 2011 edition of the Cooperative boys varsity volleyball team defeated perennial cellar-dwellers Cambridge two sets to one in a match played at the Jaguar field house Tuesday afternoon.
        Gone were the big, tall stars of last year’s championship team --Mateus Juan Alfredo Abuawad, DeCarvalho, and Pablo Roda – but the Jaguars unveiled one new big man –  Camilo Avila – who in past years has concentrated on golf.
        Several other returning players, including Josue Abuawad, Jose Mozza, and Andres Shin demonstrated that they had played the game before, and captain Jorge Melgar showed that over the vacation he had developed a truly vicious serve.
        Cambridge, for its part, put up a better fight than in recent years, when it almost unfailingly lost to the Jaguars in straight sets by wide margins. And when the Jaguars decided to rest some of their starters in the second set, the Knights took full advantage of the opportunity and took the set rather easily, 25-19, indicating that at least at the beginning of the season there is a big disparity between the Jaguar starters and substitutes.
        In the set Cambridge ran off a series of points during the service of Juan Paniagua who, instead of trying to power the ball to an open or unprepared defender, launched high, arcing serves, one of which came within inches of hitting the roof of the gym. After that one dropped in for a point, another Cambridge player came over and pantomimed shining Paniagua’s shoes.
        In the third and deciding set the Jaguars decided they would not be taking any stupid chances, reinserted the starters, and took charge of play as masterfully as their predecessors had ever done in past years. They streaked out to an 11-0 lead, and then coasted home, more or less, to win 15-4.


Griffins Beat Eagles 2-0
By Sung Eun Song, SCIS

The International School varsity boys volleyball team dominated the floor on Tuesday at SCIS gym, defeating the Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center team by a great margin. The Griffins won the first set 25-14. The second set also went to Griffins as they defeated Eagles 25-9 for the 2-0 match victory. 

In the first set, the Eagles jumped to an early 6-3 lead but it was just a matter of time before the Griffins caught up with them at 7-7. Soon after this, the Griffins took the lead, and they gradually widened the margin until they won 25-14. There were two key players who greatly contributed to Griffins’ victory; Juan Sebastian Narvaez and Francisco Gonzales. Juan Sebastian Narvaez not only had an outstanding hitting, but he also led the Griffins defensively, picking up several blocks. Francisco Gonzales was another great attacker, who fired spikes so powerfully that they were completely unblockable. Both of them were highly skilled at spotting empty spots of the Eagle’s side and spiking accurately to them. The outstanding player of Eagles was Andre Ronald Larsen. He moved the ball around with delicacy and precision, continuously aiding Eagles to score. The other player who contributed most to the Eagles was Jesse Mann, who was able to keep the Eagles on their toes defensively.

In the second set, Eagles fell behind early as Griffins' starting server put some tough serves in. The Griffins grabbed an early 4-0 lead as soon as the game began. Although the Eagles tried to quickly climb back into the match, the Griffins expanded the score to a 10 point lead in a twinkling, 13-3. The Griffins maintained control of the second set, finally winning 25-9.

Varsity Girls Soccer - August 30th

Griffins Dominate Eagles 5-0
By Trevor Reed, SCCLC

The International Varsity girls soccer team shot off to a strong start this season with a 5-0 win over the Eagles in a game played at the International field on Tuesday.

A Griffin free kick passes over the head of the Eagle
goalie. Photo by Jonatan Muñoz

            From the beginning the game was very aggressive. Both teams fought for every loose ball, hoping to score the first goal. The Eagles managed to get the first good chance as a Griffin defender deflected an Eagle pass towards her own goal, but it was blocked by the goalie. The game settled down to a more manageable pace, and the Griffins took full advantage of the change. Griffin forward Natalia Davila took a high shot from far out away from the goal, and it soared over the fingertips of the Eagle goalie. The Eagles tried to fire back with a goal of their own, but a well-placed shot by forward Mariela Salinas was denied entrance to the goal by the Griffin goalie. The Griffins displayed some good passing even within the Eagle goalie box, but were unable to score again for some time. Finally, Davila broke the silence again with a high free kick that again was just out of the Eagle goalie’s reach. The Griffin defense was able to stop the attacks by Salinas and Abby Phillips for the rest of the half, and the score stood at 2-0 when the whistle sounded.

Griffin Natalia Davila celebrates after
achieving a hat trick.
Photo by Jonatan Muñoz

            In the second half, the Griffins continued to put pressure on the Eagle defense, and it paid off as Davila scored yet another goal that curved into the goal from the right side. Eagle Emily Ordoñez was able to break past the Griffin defense with the ball, but her final shot was expertly blocked once again by the Griffin goalie. Natalia Davila continued to keep the Eagle defense busy, and one of her passes was deflected into the Eagle goal, bringing the score to 4-0. Not long after, Griffin Carolina Baldivieso was able to put the ball in the Eagle net once again, building the Griffin lead up to five points. Eagle Mariela Salinas had another close shot, but it was barely saved, and the Eagle team had no chance for redemption left. In the closing minutes of the game, both teams were visibly tired, taking lazy shots from far out. The Griffin team will definitely try to play as well as they did today in their game next week, but the Eagles still need some practice if they wish to be serious contenders in the league championships in October.

Jaguar Girls Swamp Knights 7-0

By Manuel Saavedra, SCCS

The Cooperative girls varsity soccer team started the season on the right foot by defeating Cambridge on a Tuesday afternoon in the Jaguar’s home field. With a small crowd of fans from both sides, the Jaguars won 7-0, showing the effort and dedication the girls are putting into each practice to reach the goal of the season, which is to become the undefeated champions for the fourth year in a row.

The game started out slow. The Jaguars weren’t able to score due to the solid defense the Knights had. The fans were desperate to shout and celebrate the first goal of the season, and finally Jaguar forward Tania Landivar opened the scoring for the Jaguars.

Once Landivar scored, the Knights started to lose their concentration and the Jaguars became more confident, which allowed them to play calmly, searching for(and finding) spaces in which they could control the ball. Not long after the first goal, thanks to remarkable cooperation between the Jaguar attackers, Landivar experienced the joy of scoring once more.

The Knight’s defenses were now having a tough time trying to stop the Jaguars from trespassing within the territory in front of their goal. To seal the deal in the first half, Fernanda Vaca Diez, a player who had mainly been assisting other players with precise passes, scored one for herself into the left side of the goal after all the other players had crowded into the middle of the field, leaving her uncovered.

In the second half, the Jaguars started playing more freely with their three goal lead. Suddenly, Vaca Diez appeared near the goal and scored again, making a Cambridge comeback even near impossible. A short while later, with another noteworthy play Vaca Diez scored again making it 5-0 for the Jaguars, and giving her a hat trick.

Knights and Jaguars gather around the ball near the
Griffin goal, all hoping to get a foot on it.
Photo by Julia Boldt

After realizing the game wasn’t going to change much, Coach Rolando Cabrera started sending other players in, so that the starters got to rest for the next game against the rival Griffins. The substitutes showed they were ready to play.

Tenth-grader Giovanna Varalta, an outstanding ex-JV star who had been bothered by a foot injury last year, used her head to score on an accurate corner kick thrown by Tania Landivar. At the end of the game, Paola Querejazu scored the seventh goal after a poorly placed Knight rebound.

The game finished 7-0, which left the Jaguars with smiles on their faces and the Knights not as happy as they realized how far they had to go to challenge for the championship. But not everything was negative for the Knights. In the past two years Cambridge had lost 9-0 and 11-0 to Cooperative, so they could claim to be making a slight improvement.

In fact some Jaguars thought Cambridge had put up a stronger fight than they expected. “We may have underestimated them,” said Jaguar star Landivar. “They were a lot better than we thought." 

JV Boys Volleyball - August 30th

Jr. Knights Edge Past Jaguars
By Ximena Fagan, SCCS

        The Cambridge Knights got off to a good start by beating the Cooperative Jaguars 2-0 in the first game of the JV volleyball season. This game was played at the Jaguar home court and was a hard-fought game with the set scores being 29-27 and 25-23.

        The first set was a total battle; both teams were pumped up and put their best effort into the game. Nearing the end the two teams were tying at every point. The score came up to 23-23, continued to 25-25 and finally 27-27. This is when the key player of the Knights, Sergio Soto, fired two of his tremendous serves and helped his team win the first set 29-27.

        As the second set began, the Cambridge Knights took a lead while the SCCS Jaguars began to lose their focus and tire. But the Jaguars had a late surge and this game became almost as close as the first, with the terrific defense form the SCCS Jaguars and the marvelous serves and spikes of the Knights. The quality of play was almost at varsity level, and both teams looked to be in mid-season form.

        After playing a tough game the Cambridge boys celebrated their 25-23 victory.

The line up of the winning team from Cambridge College was, Marco Ovando, Percy Vidal, Daniel Kirigin, Alvaro Veno, Mirko Sempertegui, Sergio Soto, Daniel Cotez, Luis Sojoncic, Percy Justiniano and Luciano Asturizaga.

        The SCCS team consisted of the following players: Ian Pena, Raul Valle, Claudio Bedoya, Tomas Yeatts, Rodrigo Chavez, Fernando Viacava, James Ko, Matias Belmonte, Luis Peredo, Kevin Schock, William Yeatts and Richard Salvatierra.

Griffins Defeat Eagles 2-0

By Sung Eun Song, SCIS

The Santa Cruz International School JV boys volleyball team opened the 2011 season with a match victory over Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center. The Eagles were dealt their first loss of the 2011 season as the Griffins claimed a 2-0 win Tuesday afternoon at International gym. The Griffin boys won by scores of 25-5 and 25-15 to take the 2-0 match victory.

At the beginning of the first set, both teams fought each other point-by-point. However, when the score reached 6-4 with International ahead, the Griffins jumped to a lead with strong serves from Jose Luis Sciaroni and continued their long rally, scoring fifteen more points consecutively making the score 24-4. Jose Luis Sciaroni led the Griffin boys as he had 10 kills in a row, allowing non advantage to the Eagle boys. J.Narvaz also played outstanding volleyball, dealing with balls flexibly. The Griffins maintained their lead, and after a quick kill from SCCLC’s Luke Philips, took the 25-5 set victory.

The second set was a continuation of the first set. Although the Eagles appeared much refreshed, the game started with the Griffins taking a dominant lead again. Finally the game ended with the score of 25-15 in favor of the Griffins.

JV Girls Soccer - August 30th

Jaguarettes Swamp Knights 4-0

By Andrea Gutierrez, SCCS

        The JV soccer girls match between Santa Cruz Cooperative School and Cambridge Tuesday afternoon ended with four goals for the Jaguars and none for the Knights. The season opening match was played on the Jaguar home field.

Even though the final score might suggest that the Jaguars won the match easily, this is not entirely true. The first half stayed tied 0-0 with no goals by either team. Cambridge and Cooperative both seemed to have powerful defenses and spectators even argued that if a goal was scored it would probably just have been by sheer luck.

        It was obvious that the Jaguars took advantage of the intermission to organize their tactics because after they returned to the field they obtained command of the game. Shortly after the second half began, Paula Sakuma scored the first goal with a strong kick placing the ball in the left- hand corner of the net.

The second goal was scored by Alejandra Cadario. A few minutes later, a Cambridge defender’s small mistake allowed Michelle Lederman, another Jaguar, to score the third goal.

        Last, but definitely not least, Andrea Chavez made her school proud with another goal leaving the Knights far behind.    

Griffins Squeeze Past Eagles 1-0

By Trevor Reed, SCCLC

The International JV girls soccer team started their season off with a close win against the Eagles on Tuesday. Both teams had several chances to score, but one shot made the difference as the Griffins won 1-0 on their home field.

            At the start of the game the Griffins immediately took control of the field. However, the Eagles fought back with a few well-placed passes into enemy territory. The Griffins were able to fire off the first on-target shot of the game, but it was deflected by the Eagle goalie Iza Ribeiro. Soon after, Emily Ordoñez dribbled the ball past the Griffin defense on her own and took a strong shot at the goal, but it was caught by the Griffin goalie. After another near-miss by the Eagles, the Griffins appeared to be losing their momentum. A few more breakaways gave chances to both teams, but neither team could finish them with goals. The defense did a good job of keeping the ball away from the goalie box for both teams, and the first half ended scoreless.

            The Griffins started the second half off strong, again dominating the field. Griffin forward Fabiana Zelada displayed good dribbling skills, and it paid off as she was finally able to get a high shot past the Eagle goalie and into the goal. The Eagles, now desperate, tried to even the score again. One great shot by Ordoñez made it past the Griffin goalie but missed the right goal post by a few inches. The Eagles were not able to tie the game up before the final whistle, and the Griffins squeezed by with a 1-0 win.

Season Preview - Can the Jaguars do it again?

They might, but it's far from a sure thing.

The story of the 2010 Santa Cruz Interscholastic League soccer and volleyball seasons could  be summed up in two word: Jaguars won.

The Cooperative Jaguars won the championship trophies in all four varsity competitions: boys soccer, girls soccer, boys volleyball and girls volleyball. It represented the first time in League history that one school has won all the varsity competitions in one season, and this season will be the first real test of whether it can be done again. 

Cooperative’s girls soccer and volleyball teams, if not favorites to repeat, are almost certain to have a shot at doing so. But the picture in boys soccer and volleyball is much more obscure. Both seasons in those sports start off in “anything can happen” mode.

Girls Soccer: Can Jaguar epoch end in glory?

The Jaguar girls soccer team has never lost the championship since the founding of the League in 2005, and hasn’t lost a game since 2007. (There have been two ties.)

 The only players from last year who will be conspicuously absent from this year’s starting line-up is last year’s captain, Aldana Roda, and Maria Jose Rivero. Many players on the team have been starters since seventh grade or earlier. They fully intend to go out in the style to which they have accustomed themselves.

These include Fernanda Vaca Diez, Tania Landivar, Sofia Sotelo, Ana Peredo, Maria Paz Rivero, Rose Leny Kefer, Audrey Saucedo, and Macarena Valdes, Paola Querejazu, and Paolina Aguirre, among others. The girls teams will once again be coached by Rolando Cabrera. 

If any team can beat them, it is probably International. The Griffins almost did it last year when they were ahead 1-0 with only minutes remaining. The Griffins sabotaged themselves when a defender accidently deflected a Jaguar corner kick into her own goal, and then the Griffins were unable to stop a Jaguar breakway that gave Cooperative a squeaky thin 2-1 final moments win.

The Griffins have been training since late July with their new coach,  Mauro Blanco, a former member of the Bolivian national team and coach of the Santa Cruz team. Their goal has reportedly been to beat Cooperative. (Blanco is assisted by Jesus Flores and Wilfredo Cabant, both new assistant coaches.) The Griffin players intend to remember that for their entire varsity careers the Jaguars have been unbeaten - and unbeatable.

The Griffins, for their part,  did lose Natalia Suarez, Adriana Ocampo, Regina Landivar, Stephanie Gioto, Matrilde Gamarra, and Maria Isabela Barrenechea, but coach Blanco says he still has plenty of experienced players who can make good use of the ball possession style of play he favors. These include Flavia Nostas, Maria Victoria Gutierrez, Beatriz Nallar, Camila Johnson Florencia Sosa, and Natalia Davila.

So the year will not be without a certain sense of potential drama

Christian Learning’s girls  will hope to be dark horse contenders. The Eagle girls lost many players to graduation, including Tabitha Malloy, Aubrey Olsen, Kelsey Friesen, Minina Apodaca and Jihea Ain, but have many talented players still on the roster. 

The Eagles will need to rebuild their defense as well as find a new goalie. Another notable absence is Jessica Smith, who has returned to the States for the year. However, standout players Abby Phillips, Emily Ordoñez, and Mariela Salinas will be returning, and a new class of freshmen will bring in additional young players. Veteran coach Keith Wilcke and will be in  command, assisted by Melissa Kroll.   

Cambridge has not been a factor in girls soccer for several years, and for the second straight year they will be starting the season with a roster that doesn’t contain a player who has scored a goal in a varsity game. Still, everyone in the League is aware of the transformation the return of Eduardo “Presi” de la Riva brought about in Cambridge’s track team performance in April, and rumor has it that the Cambridge athletic program has been entirely re-energized.

De la Riva notes he has four proven players to build a team around – goalie Carla Barriga, defender Nadia Rocco, midfielder Alejandra Abastaflor, and striker Manuela Yañez. The team may not be much of a threat in the early season, says de la Riva, but “we may pull some surprises in the playoffs.”

Boys Soccer: Who can rebuild faster; Jaguars or Griffins?

The Jaguars’ soccer championship last year capped a two-year run in which they lost only one game. (Unfortunately for the symmetry of the Jaguars’ bragging rights that game just happened to be the 2009 championship game. In that game, Cambridge, led for the last time by the already quasi-legendary Junior Sanchez, pulled off an upset 3-2 win.)

However, Cooperative has hardly been a perennial powerhouse in boys competition. Indeed, the 2010 soccer (and volleyball) championships represented the first time that the Jaguar boys had won in any varsity sport since 2006.  

What’s more, the Jaguars must replace the heart of last year’s team, including top scorers Jose  Manuel Vasquez and Jean Andre Bretel, as well as indomitable defenders Juan Alfredo Abuawad and Federico Sauto. Santiago Paz, a rising star and one-time JV scoring champion, has left Santa Cruz.  These players often so dominated the pitch last year that one felt  it was unfair to the opponents.  

The players the Jaguars hope to get the best out of are Hyun Kim, Juan Carlos Laguna,

Lorenzo Monasterio and Eduardo Rivera, who was outstanding on junior varisty last year and will be the youngest starter on this year’s team. Although there are a lot of question marks, Coach J. C. Farel is optimistic about his team’s chances. “I feel we can compete and win as in the past,” he says.

As in the girls competition, the Jaguars most likely rivals are the Griffins, thanks to their new coach and some returning stars.

The Griffins, to be sure, also suffered some tough losses through graduation, including Andres Estenssoro, Jorge Harriague, Mauricio Nostas, and Alejandro Rios. However, Mikol Villavicencio, Santiago Maldonado, and Santiago Bedoya – all proven performers – will  be back. .”We feel very confident,” said Griffin athletic director Eli Vidal.  “We are solid in all categories.

Cambridge and Christian Learning are question marks at this point. Cambridge seemed to survive its first post-Junior Sanchez season last year in fairly good order, basically breaking even in the regular season 2-2-1, and taking third in the playoffs.

 However, all three of the Knight victories came against Christian Learning. The two wins in the regular season were spirited contests that the Knights won by only one goal, and the victory in the playoff consolation game came by one point in a dramatic penalty shoot-out.

Moreover, the Knights lost two key players to graduation – stalwart defender Alvaro Lopez and team sparkplug Matias Martinez.

On the plus side Cambridge has several players coming up from last year’s championship JV squad incuding Victor Carmon, Herless Diaz, Marlon Castillo, and Kevin Pulis. Because Cambridge has had chronic absentee problems with its varsity over the years, these players have considerable varsity playing experience.

Christian Learning had a tough rebuilding year last year, losing all its games. However, the Eagles improved all year long, and actually came within a few minutes and a few  inches of beating eventual champions Cooperative in the playoffs. Though often outmanned, they played every game with grit and determination.

Still, compounding their problems this year is the loss via graduation of Caleb Ropp, Geopyung Lim, Conroy Janzen, and forward Richard Ling. Defender Nick Smith will be in the US for the season, The team will rely on the rapid maturing of of talented freshmen Samuel Frith and Josiah Canaviri to fill the empty spaces,

The outstanding returnees do include striker Andre Larsen, a potential game changer,  and young-but-battle-tested sophomore goalie Wesley Ordoñez, as well as forward Trevor Reed. Long-time coach Douglas Montaño admits the team needs practice, but sees signs of promise.

     

Girls Varsity Volleyball: Who´ll be first among equals?

Once again, the co-favorites are Cooperative and International. In the six games the two teams have played over the past two years, each as a 3-3 record. Each has decisively beaten the other in a championship game.

But volleyball is a funny sport, where so much can depends on who has the momentum at any particular point in the season. Pundits feeling sure of their prognostications need only to think back to 2009, when Christian Learning lost all its regular season games, and then swept the championship playoff tournament.

In terms of  returning starters, Cooperative might seem to have the edge. The only player from last year’s championship team who graduated is captain Aldana Roda. Sofia Sotelo, one of the key returning players, speaks with confidence about the coming season. “I´ve worked too long and too hard,” she says, “to let anything interfere with my goals. I will not let my teammates down, and I will not let myself down.” She will be setting the ball for two outstanding returning spikers – Carla Limpias and Ana Peredo. The Jaguar coach this year will be veteran Roland Cabrera, who has been training volleyball players at Cooperative since 1989.  

International is in similarly good shape in terms of returning players, having lost only Laura Maragano from among its key players. Back for another year of service are stars Beatrice Nallar, Maria Victoria Gutierrez, and Diana Paola Melgar.

Cambridge posted a losing 2-3 record last year, and has not figured prominently in the championship race for several years. However, opponents inclined toward overconfidence should be cautioned that the last time de la Riva was athletic director at Cambridge, the Lady Knights won two championships.

De la Riva will not be personally coaching either team, relying instead on Alberto Giraudy for the boys and Alberto Obreros for the girls, but he will serve in an active advisory capacity. While cagey in his predictions (as always), de la Riva thinks he’s got at least three strong, experienced players in Lisa Delboy, Alicia Taendler, and Laura Guillen.

Christian Learning is coming off a winless season, and while Coach Angela Belovicz is encouraged by the turnout of newer younger players it may take a few games to see how much of a threat the Eagles will be.

Boys Volleyball: Is it the Griffins turn again?

 Boys volleyball is a division International used to own, and this could be then year they repossess it and avenge last year’s loss to Cooperative in the championship game. 

Except for promising JV player Hans Hoffman, who would have moved up to the varsity, International has virtually all of last year’s squad back, and athletic director Eli Vilar predicts that “hard training and a new atmosphere will motívate both the players and coaches.” She will share coaching duties again this year with Hugh Zaconeta.

 The key players for International should include ever-steady Maykol Villavicencio, hard-serving Eric Takayama, and high-leaping Juan Sebastian Narvaez.

Cooperative will be quite a different team without its triple towers – Juan Alfredo Abuawad, Pablo Roda,  and Mateus de Carvalho. But as Cooperative volleyball guru Rolando Cabrera watched this year’s team completing its tryouts, he said, “We are not as good now as we were last year, but with time we will be what we used to be and more.

 “Fortunately we have a very good group of ninth graders who are in a very good level, and most of team is tenth graders, including our most valuable player, Josue Abuawad (Juan Alfredo’s “little” brother).”

 Cooperative has a new coach with a distinguished record. He is Jose Luis Suarez, who is also the coach in Santa Cruz’ first división volleyball, as well as coach of the department’s younger players. He has also coached for UTEPSA.

The question then is; How long will it take for Cooperative to be as good as it was last year? Will it happen this year?

Christian Learning looked like the best team in the League last year on paper, but somehow rarely got it all together on the court, finishing 2-3 on the season. And although some key players were lost to graduation, an air of excitement and optimism has invaded the schools gyms as its teams prepare for the coming season.

Coach Angele Belovicz reported a large number of younger players turning out for both the boy and girls teams, but especially the boys team. The team, like Cooperative’s, will have a lot of ninth and tenth graders, and Coach Belovicz expects the team to improve during the year as these players become more seasoned. And the team will have at leat two outstanding returning veterans in Andre Larsen and Jesse Mann. Belovicz also said that overall she wishes to see the volleyball teams representing the school well through good sportsmanship. 

Cambridge has never been a factor in boys volleyball, and hasn’t won a game in several years. Again the question will be whether the change in athletic management will change its fortunes.

(This round-up story was compiled from reports by Manuel Saavedra, Lucia Landivar, Sebastian Vedia, Nicolas Handal, Sung-Eun Song, Jesse Mann and Trevor Reed. It was written by David Boldt.)