A shutout win on the road started the week for Escalon’s varsity soccer boys while they fell in a home game in Thursday afternoon action.
“On Tuesday we were away to Hilmar and we won 5-0,” said head coach Paul Silva. “It was 1-0 at the half.”
A four-goal outburst in the second half lifted the Cougars to the victory.
Luis Flores had two goals and an assist on the afternoon. Jesse Gomez, Vicente Gonzalez and Andy Alpizar each had a goal as well.
“A good game overall, we were a bit wasteful in the first half, but more clinical with our finishing in the second half,” Silva said.
Things started out on a good note Thursday, as the Cougars hosted Hughson and had the early lead, but ultimately fell to the Huskies, who used a four-goal second half to take a 5-3 win.
“Our game on Thursday was a tale of two halves,” agreed Silva. “First half we played well but we were not as clinical as we should have been. Second half we played poorly individually and collectively.”
Hughson seized every opportunity and just seemed to have the scoring touch in the second half, tying the game and ultimately pulling away.
For Escalon, goals came from Vicente Gonzalez with two, Andy Alpizar with a goal and an assist.
The varsity was scheduled to host Ripon on Jan. 17 and are scheduled to go to Livingston on Jan. 19.
Escalon’s junior varsity boys came away with a 4-1 win from their road game at Hilmar, with goals from Dylan Pena, Yair Valerio, Alexavier Garcia and Steven Rodriguez, with two assists from Valerio.
“Thursday was home against Hughson and we won 3-0,” said coach Polo Rodriguez.
Valerio had a pair of goals, including one on a penalty kick, and Dominic Murillo also scored on a PK for the Cougars. The JV boys will also face Ripon and Livingston this week.
GIRLS SOCCER
With just two league games played so far, the varsity girls took a pair of losses. They fell to Hilmar by a 2-1 final and then traveled to Hughson and lost there by a 4-2 decision.
“We’ve had a ton of shots on goal,” said first-year head coach Jeremy Titsworth.
Not enough shots have fallen, however, and though the team is showing steady improvement, they haven’t gotten into the win column in league play.
Titsworth said he had a couple of people reach out to him and suggest he apply when the head coaching position for the varsity girls opened up and he decided to go for it.
“I’m actually really enjoying it,” he said. “I did coach a lot of these girls in rec soccer over the years.”
His daughter also plays on the varsity squad so the new coach said he has been around the program for the past few years.
The JV girls, with head coach Lindsay Plascencia, lost a 1-0 decision to Hilmar on their home turf on Tuesday, Jan. 10.
“We played on the third field along Stanislaus Street,” she said, noting that the field was added during the height of the rain in hopes of having an option to play home games.
“We played really well against Hilmar; we had many shots on goal but we just couldn’t finish” she explained.
Thursday on the road at Hughson, they flipped the script and took a 4-0 win.
“I usually play a 4-3-3 but for this game I switched it up to a 4-4-2 and that gave us a better advantage in controlling the middle,” the coach noted. “The good thing about this game was that all 26 girls on the roster got to play.”
Soraya Aguayo had a hat trick and Adrianna Romero added a goal. Notching assists were Mia Arteaga, Amy Maldonado, Geryldene Ortiz and Aguayo.
