JV Boys Soccer

COLLISION COURSES -- Knights Alejandro Marinaro and Daniel Kirigin
 battle  for the ball with Jaguars Paul Valle and Tommy Yeatts.  -- Julia Boldt  

Note: This game was originally postponed from September 29.


Thrills galore as Knights triumph 2-1

    The Cambridge boys junior varsity soccer team defeated Cooperative 2-1 in a thrill-filled, action-packed game played in front of almost no one on the Jaguar field Wednesday afternoon under gray skies.

     This was the make-up game for the contest postponed last Thursday when the referees failed to show up on time. The win moves Cambridge, at least for the moment, into second place in the League standings behind undefeated International.

  

SWING YOUR PARTNER -- Knight
Daniel Kirigin and Jaguar Tomas
Yeatts do a a Do-si-do -- Julia Boldt

   But the game’s main effect may be to make the rivalry between the Knights and Jaguars, who will presumably meet again in the semi-finals not matter what happens in the last games of the regular season Thursday, even edgier than it already is. The two teams battled to a scoreless tie in their first meeting.

      International will be playing Christian Learning in the other semi-final bracket.

Both the Jaguars and Knights had early chances to score, For Cambridge Mauricio Soto threaded a pass in to Percy Vidal right in front of the Jaguar goal, but a defender arrived in the nick of time to thwart the threat.

      Jaguar right wing Gabriel Romero got off two beautiful crossing passes – but there was no one waiting to receive them.

      Both teams were passing crisply and moving the ball upfield, but goalies Luis Peredo for Cooperative and Sebastian Carrasco for Cambridge were handling all the balls that got through.

     The scoring drought ended when little Jose Carlos Paz swiveled his way in toward the goal, coming along the baseline from the left, and popped the ball between Carrasco and the near post at point blank range to put the Jaguars ahead 1-0.

     The Jaguars nearly scored again moments later, but Carrasco this time tapped the ball upward twice, and then gathered it in.

     Meanwhile the Knights were giving Peredo plenty of business at the other end of the field. They evened the score when Mauricio Soto took charge of a loose ball at midfield, and took off on a long run in which he faked out two defenders before drilling the ball into the left-hand side of the net.

     Both teams continued to threaten as the half wound down. A Jaguar header off a corner kick missed just to the right of the goal. Then, in the aftermath of a free kick by Soto, Cambridge forwards got off three strong shots, but all were fended off.

      The half ended with the score still deadlocked, 1-1.

     Things picked up right where they had left off in the second half. Immediately after the kickoff Paz got off a high velocity shot at the upper edge of the goal that Carrasco had to leap high to corral.

LOOKING UP FOR GUIDANCE? -- Knight Mauricio
Soto hopes to send the ball back upfield. Jaguar
 Enzo Chambruzzi hopes he won't -- Julia Boldt

     This was immediately followed by the Jaguars closest effort to score in the second half as Paz drove in along the baseline to the left of the goal again, pulling goalie Carrasco over to stop him in the process. At that point Paz got off a pass to Tommy Yeatts in front of the now open goal. However, his shot rolled across the open net – and off to the other side.

     Now the momentum seemed to swing to Cambridge as the Knights exploited a genetic advantage it had – their defenders were taller than the Jaguar strikers. The Knights now began to win more than their share of the duels for the high, bounding balls the Jaguars sent upfield.

    Several of the defenders were then able to carry the ball down into Jaguar territory where they passed it to right wing Vidal, giving him a series of scoring opportunities in which the footwork was there, but the timing was a little off. He missed just high, and then just right with whistling kicks from well within his range.

    Cambridge got the go ahead goal when a powerful corner kick by Leonardo Arjes  ended up in a sort of rugby scrum in front of the far goal post. After the ball was kicked around for some time, Horacio Morales put it out of its misery knocking it into the safety of the goal, putting Cambridge ahead 2-1.

    There were more thrills and chills in the final minutes, including a near miss by the Jaguars on a shot that was just outside the left post.

    For Cambridge there were a succession of corner kicks, and Vidal finally put a shot on the goal that looked like a sure score, but goalie Peredo punched it to the side.

    At long last the game-ending whistle blew.