With only one day of practice since returning from its holiday break, Cate’s top-ranked soccer team seemed ripe for the taking in Wednesday’s Carpinteria Derby.
Carpinteria played in a tournament over the holiday break and faced some high-level competition. The Rams, meanwhile, hadn’t played a game since Dec. 14.
Cate was able to conquer the challenge. Ema Boateng and Avery Schwartz, two of Cate’s big playmakers, combined for an early goal and senior goalkeeper Blake Wands turned back several dangerous chances by Carpinteria in a 2-0 win for the No. 1 team in CIF Division 7.
“I think this was a lesson in scheduling. It wasn’t a great idea to play a game after 2 1/2 weeks off,” Cate coach Dave Mochel said. “It was tough on us. Carp played a great game. It was a good, strong, physical game. It’s not the prettiest soccer. It was probably the ugliest 2-0 win I can remember. Both sides fought really hard. It just wasn’t the kind of soccer we like to play.”
But the Rams got it done and improved to 4-1. Carpinteria is 5-5.
Boateng, while being pressured by Carpinteria’s defense, managed to cross the ball to Schwartz, who broke away from his defender and beat Warriors goalkeeper Joey Gamez in the 13th minute of the non-league match between the defending Division 7 champions and Division 5 runners-up.
Wands and the Cate defense thwarted several Carpinteria attempts to score the equalizer. The Rams iced the game in the final minute on a Jeffrey Acheampong breakaway.
“This game was going to be big no matter what,” said Wands of the neighborhood rivalry. “It was really nerve-wracking before the game; I had all this pressure on me. I feel our defensive line played brilliantly today, and we shut them down in the midfield.”
With only one day of practice before the game, the Rams were a little out of sync on offense. Carpinteria also had something to do it. The Warriors applied high pressure on the Cate back line and midfield, and didn’t allow the Rams to get into an offensive rhythm.
“We didn’t have the touch we had going into the break,” Mochel said. “We didn’t have the sort of poise and presence on the ball we generally have. We were a step behind where we wanted to be, and Carpinteria, to its credit, took advantage of all those missteps and put together a lot of great opportunities.”
Unfortunately for the Warriors, they couldn’t put any of them away.
“I thought we played well, we’ve played well all season, we’re just not putting the ball in the back of the net, and it’s cost a few games now,” Carpinteria coach Daniel Torres said. “Like I told the boys, we can control and possess the ball 89 percent of the time, but if we’re not scoring we’re not going to win games.”
The Warriors created a chance to take the lead in the fourth minute after forcing a turnover, but Wands stopped a shot by Omar Vasquez
The Warriors tested the Rams goalkeeper again in the 15th minute when Lalo Garcia fielded a deflected ball after a long throw-in and hammered a shot from 19 yards. Wands put himself in perfect position and parried the ball away.
“Without Blake Wands, that game could have been a very different game,” said Mochel. “Their goalkeeper, Gamez, I thought he played a great game as well.”
Gamez came up with a huge save in the 37th minute. He faced Boateng and Schwartz on a 2-on-1 break and blocked Boateng’s point-blank blast over the cross bar. A minute later, he made a save on a shot by Schwartz.
Carpinteria came close to tying the score in the 43rd minute when Luca Rigonati found Vasquez open for a shot at the top of 18, but Vasquez misfired wide of the near post.
Shortly after that play, Joshua Yaro, Cate’s All-CIF center back, left the game with leg cramps. Carpinteria almost capitalized on his absence on a corner kick. Rigonati went up uncontested and snapped a header on goal. Wands couldn’t get to the ball, but defender Patrick Thomas was there to clear it away.
In the 68th minute, Boateng took an elbow to the eye and left the game.
The Warriors were in an all-out attack for the last five minutes of the game, but they couldn’t get anything past Wands, who was in complete control of the penalty area. He scooped up all they through balls, made two big saves and punched out a corner kick to preserve the shutout.
Wands was named the MVP of the game.
