The Cambridge and International boys varsity soccer teams fought to a 2-2 draw on the Griffins field Thursday in an epic contest worthy of the storied rivalry between the two teams, who always seem to bring out the best in each other.
The tie puts International in a complicated tie with Cooperative atop the League at the half season mark. Cambridge moves into third place with an even record -- one win, one loss, and one tie.The teams now get a week off for the Santa Cruz Day break and resume play the following week. (See schedule at right.)
The Griffins broke on top with a powerful free kick by Fernando Muñoz that zooomed into the upper right-hand corner of the goal from about 30 meters out on the left-hand side of the field. International held that 1-0 advantage at halftime.
The Knights retaliated with dazzling suddenness in the first minute of the second half when Kahlil Daher executed a perfact pass to Matheo Asturizaga who smacked the ball into the goal.
The Griffins retook the lead when Jorge Harriague, fastest player in the League, took advantage of a miscue by a Cambridge defender to break away and blast the ball into the goal at close range.
Knight Tadeo Carmona knotted the score at 2-all when he got clear just inside the penalty ares and zinged a long low shot into the goal.
That concluded the scoring for the day, though there were some spectacular near misses by International on corner kicks and several near breakaways by the Cambridge forwards in teh closing minutes.
International won the shootout for the extra point in the standing 4-1 thanks to two intrepid saves by Griffin goalie Jose Sebastian Velasco, and one over-adrenalined shot by Cambridge that hit a window on the second floor of a classroom building some distance beyond the field. It was only the second time in memory a shot has hit the building that high.
An irony to the shootout was that Cambridge goalie Andres Hurtado partially blocked three Griffin shots, but all three continued on into the goal. International, which was once famed for bad luck in shootouts, has now made all nine of its opportunities in shootouts this season.
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INCOMING! -- Another Jaguar long shot comes rocketing in toward Eagle goalie Wesley Ordoñez (1) Carlos Paredes, Cooperartive |
Paced by five goals from Jose Manuel Vasquez, the Cooperative boys varsity soccer team whomped Christian Learning 7-1 in a game played on the Jaguars field Thursday.
The win moved Cooperative in to tie for first place with International in the standings at the end of the first half of the season..
The Jaguars scored six times in the first half, and added a single goal in the second. In addition to Vasquez' goals, Cooperative got a goal each from Santiago Paz, a ninth grader, and Federico Sauto.
Andre Larsen scored Christian Learning's goal in the first half, which ended 6-1 in favor of the Jaguars.
The Eagles could take comfort in the fact that Larsen's goal was the first scored on Cooperative this season. the Jaguars had previously notched a 5-0 victory over Cambridge and played a scoreless tie with International.
The scoreless tie last week that apparently caused the Jaguar offense to wake up and smell the coffee. Playing very smoothly the Jaguars poured through an Eagle defense that was clearly in disarray during the opening 20 minutes of play, firing early and often on the Eagle goal, and hitting on several long shots. The Eagles seemed to steady after Larsen's goal, but the cause was lost. The Jaguars gave their second string plenty of playing time in the second half. .
