Carpinteria’s boys soccer team failed to score in its second-straight match on Monday, resulting in a 2-0 loss to Oaks Christian in a key Tri-Valley League game.
After the match, Warriors head coach Daniel Torres was nostalgic.
“It’s been awhile, I kind of miss it. I expect the boys to miss it as well,” Torres said about the last time his team scored a goal. “We’re just not taking quality shots or not taking shots at all.”
Carpinteria’s Hector Delgado leaps in front of Oaks Christian’s Sean Hanson on Monday.
The Warriors, defending two-time league champions, were looking to draw even with the Lions in league after a disappointing 2-0 setback to Oak Park on Jan. 15. Instead, Oaks Christian is 5-0 in league while Carpinteria falls to 2-2.
“We usually battle Carp every year so it’s good to have a cushion, if you can call it that,” said Lions head coach Sebastian Alvarado, knowing that there is still lots of soccer yet to be played. “We’re only five games in but they have two losses so we’ll take it.”
While the Warriors struggled to find their way into the scoring column, Oaks Christian broke through early in the first half.
Leading goal-scorer Diego Calix played the role of set-up man when he sent a bending cross into the middle from the right side. Teammate Patrick Harmon and Carpinteria goalkeeper Erik Rojas arrived at the end of the pass almost at the same time. Harmon got his foot on the ball first, knocking it into Rojas. Harmon’s momentum carried himself and the ball past Rojas, allowing Harmon to score into an open net.
Calix scored his 14th goal of the season in the second half, providing the Lions with an insurance goal. A throw-in deep in the Warriors’ half skipped off the head of Zach Rush to Calix, who banged it in.
“We’ve been working on that header like every practice,” Calix said, acknowledging that the play doesn’t work all that often. “One time it’s going to work and it gave us the winning goal this evening.”
The extra goal made the final few minutes a little less stressful for the Lions, even though the Warriors kept pressing.
Alejandro Alvarez was substituted into the game with 10 minutes to play and almost pulled the Warriors within one on two occasions, only to be stopped by great plays from Lions keeper Christian Campat.
Carpinteria had several opportunities throughout the game but just couldn’t convert.
Oscar Montes had a shot in the first half from inside the box that was blocked, followed by Edwin Elizarraras’ 18-yard blast that sailed over the crossbar.
Rojas kept the Warriors in the game by making a quality save just before halftime as Carpinteria defender Jose Sanchez slipped on the muddy field, freeing Micah Borowitz to take an open 20-yard shot. Rojas came off his line to cut down the angle and swallowed Borowitz’s attempt to keep it a 1-0 game at halftime.
It didn’t matter in the end, as Carpinteria (9-3-1) was shutout for the second-straight game after not being shutout in their first 11 games.
“I know it’s going to come and we’re eventually going to score a goal and things are going to fall into place,” Torres said, whose team plays Bishop Diego on Friday.
The Lions and Warriors battle again in the final regular season game on Feb. 10
