Amid the raindrops, cancellations and postponements, Escalon’s varsity soccer boys have gotten in a few non-league contests.
Returning to coach the varsity squad is Paul Silva, with the team coming off a Section finals appearance, bringing home second place honors last season.
Tuesday, Nov. 27 the team was home and took a 3-2 win over Calaveras.
“Guillermo Alvarez scored in the first 30 seconds of the game and then with about five minutes left in the first half, he scored again,” Silva said.
Escalon had a 2-1 lead at the half.
A minute into the second half, Alvarez completed the hat trick, with an assist from Arnold Soto.
“Calaveras scored with about ten minutes left but we won it, 3-2,” Silva said.
Oscar Gonzalez had three saves in the first half, Clay Evans was net minder in the second half and made two saves.
“It was a pretty sloppy game,” admitted Silva. “We went almost two weeks without practicing, we were sloppy and a little bit too casual.”
Wednesday against Downey, the rain held off during the contest, with the skies opening up just as Silva was getting all the equipment put away.
It was a 4-1 win for Escalon, up 1-0 at the half.
It was on again the Guillermo Alvarez show, scoring 30 minutes in to the game for the 1-0 lead. He scored a minute into the second half to make it 2-0, but Downey got a goal just a minute later, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
“Midway through, Guillermo was taken down in the box to set up a penalty kick, Denis Pineda took the kick and made it, that put us up 3-1,” Silva said. “With about five minutes left, Guillermo scored again, with the assist from Jonathan Valeriano, it was on a corner kick and Guillermo headed it in to make it 4-1.”
Gonzalez made seven saves in goal for the Cougars.
“We played a lot better, our effort and energy was a lot better and we are working with three new defenders out of four, so I was very pleased with the way they kept Downey at bay,” Silva said.
The JV boys, meanwhile, blew out Calaveras in an 11-2 win and then took a 3-1 loss to Downey.
A Thursday game got rained out but the Cougar squads will be back in action this week, heading to the Gregori Tournament on Friday and Saturday with both the JV and varsity squads taking part in the tourney.
