Carpinteria’s Yhobany Elizarraraz, left, competes with Cate’s Shuta Kobayashi (9) and Djata Nwaayie (15) on a goal kick.
Carpinteria has so much young talent on its boys soccer team that Diego Contreras started the season on the junior varsity.
The forward was brought up to the varsity a few games ago and has shown his coaches and teammates that he plans to stay there.
Contreras scored two goals in the first eight minutes of Wednesday’s Carpinteria Derby with Cate, sparking the Warriors to a 4-0 non-league victory on the Mesa.
Carpinteria sophomore Diego Contreras scored twice against Cate on Wednesday. (Presidio Sports Photos)
It was Carpinteria?s first win over Cate in the three years they?ve been playing each other.
Contreras got the Warriors (4-1) off to a fast start, scoring in the third minute. Ivan Julian crossed the ball to Brandon Landeros at the far post and Landeros headed it back to Contreras, who beat a defender before slotting it past Cate goalkeeper Keller Mochel for a 1-0 lead.
Three minutes later, Contreras made it 2-0, running onto a long ball from Victor Saldana, catching Cate?s defense out of position and scoring easily.
He came close to achieving a hat trick in the 27th minute, ripping a swerving shot toward the right upper V of the goal. But Mochel made a spectacular play by knocking the ball over the cross bar.
?He?s one of our sophomores and his role with the varsity was up in the air to begin the season,? Carpinteria coach Leo Quintero said of Contreras. ?After some consideration, he got moved up, and I think he?s really taking advantage of that. He?s got four goals in the last three games. He?s definitely hungry; he?s one of the hardest working players on the field.?
Ivan Julian made it 3-0 before halftime off an assist from Luis Garcia. Garcia hit a line-drive crossing ball over the head of the goalkeeper to an unmarked Julian, who tapped it in for the goal in the 29th minute.
Quintero said Wednesday’s fast start is something he wants to see from his team in every match.
?That was the mentality we had in the prior game and I told the guys that we had to go with that same mentality, as far as aggressiveness and really set the tone early,? said Quintero. ?I?m really glad we came out the way we did. That?s kind of our identity this season.?
Francisco Arroyo scored the fourth goal in the second half, stealing the ball and beating the goalkeeper 1 v 1.
Cate created some good scoring chances in the first half, but Carpinteria goalkeeper Lalo Delgado came up with some big stops.
The first stop came after Carpinteria took a 1-0 lead.
?That hurt, no question,? said Cate coach Peter Mack. ?If you can tie it back up, it?s a different game.?
Cate was playing only its second match of the season, and the Rams showed they?re still trying to find themselves.
?You could tell we?re still not in sync,? said Mack. ?Give a lot of credit to Carp. They controlled the tempo of the game. They?re a good team and they took us away from what we wanted to do.?
It doesn’t get any easier for Cate as it plays Channel Islands, the No. 2-ranked team in CIF Division 3, on Friday.
Carpinteria plays Dos Pueblos on Thursday.
Great article!