The Metro Pacific League kicked off its 2016 boys soccer season Wednesday, so it was time to erase the win-loss records for the competing teams. The Sweetwater Red Devils, off to a 5-5-2 start, got the jump on the host Castle Park Trojans by scoring a 4-2 victory to start league play with a perfect 1-0-0 mark.
“We’re definitely coming around,” first-year SuHi head coach David Lopez explained after Wednesday’s game. “We have a different mentality than last year. A lot of the players are seniors. It’s their last year. Their mind set is to win the banner.
“These guys only had two wins last year total (a 2-15-2 record).”
Sweetwater roared out to a 3-0 halftime lead. Andy Mora, Miguel Oyama, Luis Pulido and Luis Baltazar each scored goals in the game, with Pulido and Baltazar also picking up assists alongside teammates Javier Navar and Brandon Lopez.
Goalkeeper Rafael Morales earned the victory to put an end to a two-game losing streak (identical 4-0 non-league losses to Southwest and San Ysidro).
The Red Devils host Hilltop (1-0 in league, 2-14 overall) on Friday, then play at defending league champion Chula Vista (0-1 in league, 4-8-5 overall) next Wednesday.
Lopez said consistency “from the first game to the last game” will be the key to keeping his team in contention for this year’s league championship title.
Castle Park coach Jose Cobian Jr. was obviously disappointed by his team’s showing in its league opener. The Trojans entered the game sporting a 7-5-1 record in non-league play.
“We didn’t start off the way we wanted,” the CPHS coach said. “We were kind of sloppy in the back in the beginning. We played much better in the second half but it was a matter of too little, too late.
“In league play, you forget about records Everybody has the same desire — to win the banner. We lost to a well organized Sweetwater team. Sweetwater made a statement today.”
The Trojans will have to make a statement of their own when they host Chula Vista Friday at 3 p.m.
“We have to put this loss behind us,” Cobian said.
Cristian Solis and Christian Hernandez scored goals for Castle Park in the loss to the Red Devils.
The Trojans dropped to 11th in the San Diego Section Division II power rankings following Wednesday’s setback. San Ysidro (9-2-2 overall) is ranked fifth in the division, followed by Eastlake (10-4-4) in eighth and Mater Dei Catholic (8-8-1) in ninth.
“Looking at our schedule, we’re not going to finish in the top four in our division,” Cobian explained. “If we were to finish in the top eight, we’d flip-flop with Eastlake and Mater Dei Catholic because both those teams have beaten us. If we do make it to the playoffs, we’ll more than likely play all our games on the road.
“For us to have a home game, we’d have to finish in the top eight. It’s not impossible. But we’d have to win the rest of our games and a couple of things would have to happen in the other leagues.”
Mater Dei Catholic leads the Metro-Mesa League with a 3-1-0 record, followed by Bonita Vista at 2-0-2, Eastlake at 2-2-1, Olympian at 0-2-1 and Otay Ranch at 0-3-0.
Bonita Vista edged visiting Mater Dei Catholic, 1-0, on Wednesday.
San Ysidro blasted visiting Montgomery, 5-0, on Wednesday in a South Bay League game that pitted reigning CIF champions — San Ysidro (Division II) and Montgomery (Division IV).
Bonita Vista holds down the No. 2 power ranking in Division III while Montgomery (7-4-4) is ranked sixth in the division. Sweetwater holds down the No. 7 power ranking in Division IV.
In the Division I power rankings, Chula Vista is 14th, Southwest (9-4-3 overall) is 16th, Otay Ranch (4-7-0 overall) is 18th and Hilltop (2-14 overall) is 19th among the 20 teams in the division. The top eight teams advance to the Open Division playoffs while the remaining 12 teams qualify for Division I.
Hilltop started the season 0-14 before defeating visiting Montgomery, 4-2, last Friday and upending visiting Chula Vista, 2-1, on Wednesday.
