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Two Goals Not Enough For Cougars
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It was a tough first day of competition for the Cougars on the soccer field Saturday, as the varsity squad traveled to Manteca for the all-day Sierra Tournament.

Playing three games, the boys came out on the losing end in all three, falling 4-1 to Ceres, 4-1 to West and then were shut out by Skyline, 3-0.

"We had some tough ones," said first year head coach Chris Oliveira.

Diego Rojas got the goal in the game against Ceres, with Brian Beeman notching the assist.

"Brian was out on the left wing, he kicked it in to Diego," Oliveira explained. "That was in the second half and actually made it 1-1."

But Ceres scored three unanswered goals to take the win.

Against West, the Escalon goal came on a penalty kick in the second half, Sergio Torres scoring for the Cougars.

Closing out the day against the Skyline team, Oliveira said his Cougars played hard but couldn't match up against the opponent.

"We ran them pretty hard but then we ran out of gas," the coach admitted. "We played some of the bigger teams and got some experience."

Oliveira said the tournament also allowed him to utilize all his players that were available.

"We took advantage of the fact that not everyone was there so we got playing time for all the guys," he said. "It (the tournament) worked for what I wanted it for, conditioning and getting all players in, but it's still frustrating when you lose."

The Cougars were slated to host Oakdale in non-league competition Tuesday, Aug. 24 after The Times went to press. They will be on the road Thursday to play Argonaut at Jackson.