Griffin goalie Mauricio Nostas lunges backward to stop Jaguar shot Jonatan Muñoz, International School
Jaguars pin down Griffins, win 4-3
By Andre Candia
International School
By Andre Candia
International School
The Co-operative boys varsity soccer team stunned International with a penalty kick goal in the opening minute, and ultimately maintained that margin to win a great match by the tight score of 4-3.The penalty kick was made by Jaguar captain Pablo Taborga. The rest of Co-operative's scoring was accounted for by freshman flash Jose Manuel Vasquez' hat trick. The three goals moved the Jaguar ninth grader to a tie for the top spot among goal scorers.
The Griffins scoring was accomplished by senior Eduardo Bedoya, together with 11th graders Daniel Baldivieso, and Juan Javier Estenssoro. The outcome put Co-operative in a tie for first place with Christian Learning, and put International in a tie for third place with Cambridge, basically one game behind the leaders.
Those two ties should be broken next week, barring ties, when Co-operative faces Christian Learning at Co-operative, and International hosts Cambridge.A league leader should emerge after those games, but second place could easily end in a tie that, under league rules, would be decided, first, by comparing the goals scored by the teams. If that didn’t break the tie, then the deciding factor would be which team allowed the fewest goals to be scored against it. Taborga's penalty kick made the Griffins wake up and their mind in the game, but they would be in the position of fightback for much of the afternoon
The Griffins pulled even at 1-1 when Baldivieso cashed in on a defensive error by the Jaguars and scored. But the Jaguars were soon back ahead when Vasquez headed the ball into the goal on a corner kick.
Griffin Bedoya retaliated, and pulled his team back even at 2-2, with his own great leaping header on an International corner kick. However, the Jaguars then extended their lead to two goals as Vasquez scored twice to complete his hat trick.
The Griffins scoring was accomplished by senior Eduardo Bedoya, together with 11th graders Daniel Baldivieso, and Juan Javier Estenssoro. The outcome put Co-operative in a tie for first place with Christian Learning, and put International in a tie for third place with Cambridge, basically one game behind the leaders.
Those two ties should be broken next week, barring ties, when Co-operative faces Christian Learning at Co-operative, and International hosts Cambridge.A league leader should emerge after those games, but second place could easily end in a tie that, under league rules, would be decided, first, by comparing the goals scored by the teams. If that didn’t break the tie, then the deciding factor would be which team allowed the fewest goals to be scored against it. Taborga's penalty kick made the Griffins wake up and their mind in the game, but they would be in the position of fightback for much of the afternoon
The Griffins pulled even at 1-1 when Baldivieso cashed in on a defensive error by the Jaguars and scored. But the Jaguars were soon back ahead when Vasquez headed the ball into the goal on a corner kick.
Griffin Bedoya retaliated, and pulled his team back even at 2-2, with his own great leaping header on an International corner kick. However, the Jaguars then extended their lead to two goals as Vasquez scored twice to complete his hat trick.
International played with tremendous intensity during the final quarter of the game, and Estenssoro's goal brought the margin back to a single goal, but Co-operative went into an all defensive mode to prevent a tie score and penalty shoot-out. The game ended with Co-operative on top 4-3.
After last week's game between International and Christian Learning that had featured 6 yellow cards and two red, this contest seemed placid. Only a few yellow cards were shown. (Corrected Oct. 8. Original story misattributed one of the International goals.
Knights sting Eagles, win 1-0
From coaches' reports
A second-half goal by 10th grader Junior Sanchez accounted for all of the scoring as last-place Cambridge defeated first-place Christian Learning 1-0 Thursday on the Christian Learning field.
The win, proving yet again that anything can happen in boys varsity soccer this year, moved Cambridge into a tie for third place with International School. Both schools have 2-3 records, though International has an advantage in goals scored, a statistic used to break ties. Christian Learning is now in a first-place tie with Co-operative
Those two ties are likely to be broken next week. Co-operative will play Christian Learning on its home field, while International hosts Cambridge.
Christian Learning was playing Thursday without two of its key players, Alex Apodaca and Danny Canaviri, who were sidelined because they received red cards last week. Cambridge, for its part, fielded a team that for the first time in a couple of weeks consisted entirely of players on its varsity roster, with no junior varsity boys filling in.
It would be hard to predict from the game how the two teams would fare if both were at full strength, which could occur in the playoffs. Cambridge seemed to have an edge on Christian Learning all afternoon Thursday, even when they were playing against a strong wind in the first half. (The wind died down in the second half.) And Cambridge was on the attack in the Eagles' end of the field for virtually the entire last quarter of the game.
Still, the Eagles had chances to at least score an equalizer. Even toward the end of the game, when Cambridge was dominant, an Eagle attacker got a chance to knot the score when he out-hustled the Knight goalie to the ball on the end line, and hooked a shot that arced back over his head and landed on top of the goal, barely missing a score.
But most of the action was at the Eagles' end. The Knights showed good team speed and a well organized attack as they came down the field time after time. Wingers Nicholas Gamboa and Zhau Fua Zhou Zeng dazzled the large crowd with their dribbling and passing skill.
However, Cambridge did not seem to have an effective scoring combination.
As in their game last week against Co-operative, onlookers were often left scratching their heads as to why the ball had not gone into the goal after being batted back and forth deep in the Eagles´end.
Sanchez' goal was an exception. He took the ball in front of the goal going to his right, and then neatly kicked the ball back across the goal mouth and into the left-hand corner, well out of the goalie's reach.
However, the Eagle goalie only made one or two truly spectacular saves. While Cambridge shots were frequent, they tended to either go wide or required no more than a normally strenuous effort on the part of the defense to thwart.
Penalties were not a major factor in the game.
Knights sting Eagles, win 1-0
From coaches' reports
A second-half goal by 10th grader Junior Sanchez accounted for all of the scoring as last-place Cambridge defeated first-place Christian Learning 1-0 Thursday on the Christian Learning field.
The win, proving yet again that anything can happen in boys varsity soccer this year, moved Cambridge into a tie for third place with International School. Both schools have 2-3 records, though International has an advantage in goals scored, a statistic used to break ties. Christian Learning is now in a first-place tie with Co-operative
Those two ties are likely to be broken next week. Co-operative will play Christian Learning on its home field, while International hosts Cambridge.
Christian Learning was playing Thursday without two of its key players, Alex Apodaca and Danny Canaviri, who were sidelined because they received red cards last week. Cambridge, for its part, fielded a team that for the first time in a couple of weeks consisted entirely of players on its varsity roster, with no junior varsity boys filling in.
It would be hard to predict from the game how the two teams would fare if both were at full strength, which could occur in the playoffs. Cambridge seemed to have an edge on Christian Learning all afternoon Thursday, even when they were playing against a strong wind in the first half. (The wind died down in the second half.) And Cambridge was on the attack in the Eagles' end of the field for virtually the entire last quarter of the game.
Still, the Eagles had chances to at least score an equalizer. Even toward the end of the game, when Cambridge was dominant, an Eagle attacker got a chance to knot the score when he out-hustled the Knight goalie to the ball on the end line, and hooked a shot that arced back over his head and landed on top of the goal, barely missing a score.
But most of the action was at the Eagles' end. The Knights showed good team speed and a well organized attack as they came down the field time after time. Wingers Nicholas Gamboa and Zhau Fua Zhou Zeng dazzled the large crowd with their dribbling and passing skill.
However, Cambridge did not seem to have an effective scoring combination.
As in their game last week against Co-operative, onlookers were often left scratching their heads as to why the ball had not gone into the goal after being batted back and forth deep in the Eagles´end.
Sanchez' goal was an exception. He took the ball in front of the goal going to his right, and then neatly kicked the ball back across the goal mouth and into the left-hand corner, well out of the goalie's reach.
However, the Eagle goalie only made one or two truly spectacular saves. While Cambridge shots were frequent, they tended to either go wide or required no more than a normally strenuous effort on the part of the defense to thwart.
Penalties were not a major factor in the game.
