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Soccer Season Winding Down For EHS Boys, Girls
A BALL
Varsity sweeper Alyssa Ball corrals the ball in second half play against Ripon on Thursday, Feb. 2. Escalon took an early 1-0 lead but fell by a 5-1 final to the league leading Lady Indians. Marg Jackson/The Times

With chilly temperatures seemingly the norm, fans have bundled up and turned out to support Escalon soccer players this season. That included several games for both the Cougar boys and girls this past week. Here is a wrap of the Trans-Valley League action.

 

Varsity Girls

Kicking off the week hosting Hughson on Jan. 31, the varsity Lady Cougars came away with a 7-2 victory.

Cali Granis had two goals and scoring one goal each were Reagan Baker, Jasmine Barron, Rylie Lattig, Rayah McNulty and Natalie Titsworth. Karisa McNeil and Andrea Fuentes split time in goal, recording seven saves.

Hosting Ripon during Senior Night festivities at EHS on Thursday, the Lady Cougars took a 1-0 lead on a goal by senior Rylie Lattig, assisted by McNulty.

“That’s the only goal scored against Ripon in league,” noted head coach Jeremy Titsworth.

And while it didn’t stand up – the final score was 5-1 in favor of the league-leading Lady Indians, Titsworth said it was nice to have at least gotten one in the net.

“We’ll take that score as a positive,” he said.

Friday, the girls traveled to Riverbank – a game that was originally scheduled in Escalon and had already been postponed a couple of times – and ended with a 0-0 tie.

It was a game of missed chances, the coach said.

“There were a couple of hand balls in the box that didn’t get called; we should have had a couple of penalty kicks,” Titsworth said.

But the calls weren’t made and the teams ended with the draw.

 

JV Girls

It was a 2-0 win for the young Lady Cougars over Hughson on Tuesday, with Soraya Aguayo and Peyton Merrill soring the goals. Emma Rangel had an assist.

Thursday at home hosting Ripon, the girls ran into a steamroller and were shut out by the Lady Indians.

Then, they turned the tables and did the same to Riverbank on Friday, scoring an 8-0 victory.

“Everybody got to play in this game and it was fun to coach,” said head coach Lindsay Plascencia.

Aguayo had four goals, Adrianna Romero had three and Mia Arteaga put in one.

“I’ve seen huge improvement in the girls and my job as the JV head coach is to get them varsity ready,” added Plascencia. “Soraya is really standing out, she has greatly improved throughout the season and Gweneth Goodman, our sweeper, shows great hustle, she gets back when needed and I also like to move her up, she’s a girl I can put anywhere.”

 

Varsity Boys

On the road Tuesday, Jan. 31 to take on Hughson, the varsity soccer boys ended with a 4-4 tie.

“We were down 2-0 at half and we scored three goals in the span of five minutes just after halftime to go up 3-2,” explained head coach Paul Silva. “We then gave up two goals and it was looking like we were going to lose, but Eduardo Cortes scored with a couple of minutes left to tie the game.”

Luis Flores scored twice and had an assist; Andy Alpizar had a goal and Matthew Baptista had two assists.

Thursday at Ripon, it was a big shutout win, 7-0, for the Cougars.

Three goals were scored by the team in the first half and they added four more in the second.

“Luis Flores scored three goals and had an assist,” Silva said of the scoring leader for the team.

Alpizar had a goal and two assists. Also scoring goals were Baptista, Waseem Waheeb and Victor De la O Vigil.

“Playoff picture is still unclear as every team except for us has to make up at least one game,” noted Silva.

The varsity boys were scheduled to host Livingston for their regular season finale on Tuesday, Feb. 7, recognizing the 13 seniors for Senior Night.

 

JV Boys

Taking a win at Hughson, the JV boys got their goal from Yair Valerio in a tight 1-0 contest. Thursday, they took on Ripon and tied the Indians 1-1. Escalon’s goal came on a penalty kick, Steven Rodriguez converting on that chance.

They were scheduled to close out the season with a home game Feb. 7, hosting Livingston.

GRANIS
Varsity sweeper Alyssa Ball corrals the ball in second half play against Ripon on Thursday, Feb. 2. Escalon took an early 1-0 lead but fell by a 5-1 final to the league leading Lady Indians. Marg Jackson/The Times