Cate’s Christian Herman forced a Carpinteria turnover in the 77th minute and Dean Smith scooped up the loose ball and scored to lift the Rams to a 2-1 victory over their city rivals in their first Tri-Valley League meeting in boys soccer on Wednesday at Carpinteria Memorial Valley Stadium.
“I can’t remember being prouder of a team than I was tonight,” Cate coach Peter Mack said. “Carpinteria is a really talented and technically skilled team; they play superb individual and team soccer. But from the opening whistle, we challenged every ball, refused to let them turn, double-teamed when the opportunity arose, and did our best to force them into hitting long balls in lieu of playing through the midfield.”
Cate jumped out to an early lead, with Geoffrey Acheampong scoring in the eighth minute. Acheampong, who plays with several of the Carpinteria players on the national champion Santa Barbara Soccer Club team, curled the ball inside the near post from 22 yards for a 1-0 advantage.
Carpinteria pressed to get the equalizer, but Cate’s centerback tandem of Patty Thomas and Joel Serugo and goalkeeper Keller Mochel stepped up big to keep the Warriors from scoring.
The Warriors sent more players forward in the second half and got the tying goal. Victor Saldana scored the goal off a Benjie Garcia pass.
Carpinteria kept pressing for the next 15 minutes, but the Rams countered with scoring opportunities of their own. Herman pressured the Carpinteria defense into a turnover and Smith finished the play as he beat the Warrior keeper who was charging off his line.
After failing to execute on clear goal opportunities, Cate took advantage of a late defensive mistake and capitalized,” said Carpinteria coach Leo Quintero.
“Surrendering a lead in the second half against a team like that is emotionally wrenching,” Mack said. “But instead of going flat, we stuck to the script and just kept hammering away. A lot of that had to do with the brilliant play of Geoffrey Acheampong, but every guy on the team rose to the challenge. It was a remarkable display of team play and good old fashioned grit.”
Cate improves to 5-2-1 on the season and 2-1 in league play. Carpinteria is 4-3-1 and 2-1.
