The high school boys soccer season has entered the second round of league play in the Metro Conference.
A key game took place Tuesday at Castle Park High School when the Trojans hosted the Bonita Vista Barons.
Earlier in the day, it was announced that Castle Park had self-reported an ineligible player and would forfeit two games – a 3-1 Mesa League win at San Ysidro on Jan. 17 and a 3-0 non-league win over visiting Chula Vista last Saturday.
The forfeits have seemingly taken the Trojans out of contention for the league championship but not from qualifying for the upcoming San Diego Section playoffs, according to head coach Jose Cobian Jr.
Therefore, every win is precious for Castle Park in its post-season quest.
Tuesday’s 5-2 victory in the wake of the two forfeit losses had to be a big confidence boost that the Trojans could indeed accomplish that goal.
“Our problem is that we haven’t been finishing and we need to do that in order to win games,” Cobian explained. “Last time we were up 2-0 on them (Bonita Vista) but lost 3-2. We were up 2-0 on them at halftime (of Tuesday’s game) and I told the guys that we were going to finish this up. We were going to put this one away.”
Senior John Matthews staked the Trojans to a 2-0 halftime lead. The Barons, who saw their quest to catch first place Eastlake for first place in the league standings take a slight hit, halved the deficit to start the second half.
But Castle Park scored two goals to counter that to build its lead to 4-1.
Ivan Garduno scored on a penalty kick and Ulises Portillo headed in a goalmouth cross.
Bonita Vista scored into an open net to make the score 4-2.But the hosts added a second goal from Portillo on a tap-in at the near post to up their lead to three goals.
Including the forfeits, Tuesday’s win raised Castle Park’s league record to 2-4-2 (two wins, four losses, two ties) and its overall record to 5-10-3.
“The two forfeits are going to hurt us but this win (over Bonita Vista) should help us,” Cobian explained. “This is a confidence boost. We started the season slow (0-5-2) but once we had our full lineup, we have been on a run. If we keep working hard, things will take care of themselves. I think we still have a good chance to make the CIF playoffs.
“Defense is the key for us. We have to protect our goal.”
The Barons (6-6-1 overall) saw their league mark slip to 5-2-0. However, front-running Eastlake (9-5-2 overall) dropped a 3-0 contest to visiting San Ysidro on Tuesday to drop to 6-1-1 in league play.
Bonita Vista has five league matches remaining on its schedule while Eastlake has four. The Barons host the Titans in a key game on Feb. 5.
Photo Gallery by Phillip Brents
Castle Park 5, Bonita Vista 2
Prep Soccer Notebook: Titans on top
Greg Martinez leads Eastlake in scoring with eight goals and two assists in 10 game appearances. Jaysen Marquez ranks second on the Titans with five goals and two assists in 15 games. Arden Light ranks third in team scoring with three goals and five assists.
Anree Bogart and Jaevon Marsh each have recorded one goalkeeper shutout this season.
The Titans finished 9-1-2 in Mesa League play last season en route to a final 14-5-4 finish with an appearance in the Open Division playoffs. Eastlake is currently 14th in the Division I power rankings but just 0.84 rankings points out of eighth place, which is the cut-off for the Open Division and Division I playoffs.
Top returners, according to coach Jason Renfro, include seniors Tyler Sherard and Emiliano Herrera and junior Eric Allen.
Sherard earned second team all-league honors last season the varsity team’s defensive player of the year award.
Impact newcomers include seniors Rodolfo Vasquez, Naoki Awakawa and Alex Aparicio, juniors Shiyu Murashima, Nicolas Nazario, Marquez and Martinez and sophomores Bogart and Jorge Rivas.
Vasquez earned honors as the junior varsity team’s top defensive/offensive player of the year last season while Murashima topped the JV team in assists last year.
Nazario was the JV team’s MVP while Bogart was the JV team’s defensive player of the year.
Renfro said expectations for this season are to have success in tournament play using those games to create a positive atmosphere and to gauge the player’s strengths and weaknesses.
Renfro said team goals are to finish at the top of the Mesa League standings, receive a high seed in the Open Division playoffs, win a division title and receive an invitation to the SoCal regional CIF playoffs
Above all, he said he wished “to have all student athletes enjoy their Eastlake High School soccer experience.”
So far, so good.
Corner kicks
San Ysidro sits in third place in the Mesa League standings with a 3-3-1 record, followed by Castle Park, then Otay Ranch at 1-3-3, Montgomery at 1-3-1 and Southwest at 0-5-1.
Hilltop is third in the Division IV power rankings with a 16-3-4 overall record, including 2-0-3 in South Bay League matches.
Ivan Jimenez leads the Lancers in scoring with 13 goals and four assists in nine game appearances while teammate Kurt Pena has collected nine goals and eight assists in 11 games.
Chula Vista is 2-1-1 in the South Bay League standings while Olympian is 2-1-2, Sweetwater is 2-2-1, Mater Dei Catholic is 1-1-2 and Mar Vista is 0-4-1.
