After coming off back-to-back wins to begin Coast Conference play, the Cabrillo men’s soccer team was beaming with confidence going into Tuesday’s match against West Valley.
But the Seahawks got themselves into an early quagmire of playing catch-up the entire evening in a 3-1 defeat to the Vikings at Carl Conelly Stadium in Aptos.
“We were battling the whole game until they scored the second goal. [It] should not happen,” Alvarez said. “We played them already, so we knew that that’s their strong point. I don’t know what happened, but we need to keep working on that because West Valley is a pretty good opponent.”
The Seahawks were hoping for some redemption after a 3-1 loss to these same Vikings in non-conference play Sept. 7.
It didn’t help that West Valley was handed a one-goal lead just two minutes into the game after Cabrillo was issued a foul for a hand-ball inside of the penalty area.
Pavan Nawbatt’s penalty kick shot went past Cabrillo goalkeeper Carlos Bajaras that put the Vikings ahead at 1-0.
“When you give up a PK after two minutes and you’re down 1-0 after two minutes, it’s difficult to bounce back. But the team did because we had a very good reaction,” Cabrillo head coach Paolo Carbone said. “We created more opportunities, but we didn’t score. When you create opportunities, you have to put them away.”
Cabrillo responded in the 16th minute when Johan Vazquez delivered a crisp pass to Hector Gonzalez, who then broke away from his defender and sent a laser shot past Vikings goalkeeper Aria Afshar to tie the score at 1-all. It was Gonzalez’s first goal this season.
The Seahawks continued to apply pressure inside of West Valley’s zone, and nearly took the lead after Gonzalez found himself again with an opportunity to score but his shot was blocked by Afshar.
It was also at that time things began to get a little heated on the pitch as players were noticeably playing a lot more aggressively. In the 35th, Pavan Nawbatt was issued the first of four yellow cards given to West Valley.
“It’s always a physical match against [West Valley] and it’s a good challenge in a good way,” Carbone said. “We like the competition against them and I know they like the competition against us, too.”
Then just before halftime, the Vikings knocked in a pair of goals starting with a blast from Brian Diaz in the 43rd. That was followed up by a nice header into the back of the net by Erik Moreno near the end of the first half.
It was all West Valley needed to secure a crucial victory to remain unbeaten at 3-0 in Coast Conference play.
“We were a little disorganized, which I don’t know why. I just feel like we need to be more aware,” Alvarez said. “And some guys blame it on each other, but to me, it’s all of us. We’re a team, we can’t just let someone down. We need to build up together, and we need to boost each other’s morale.”
The Seahawks did not concede a goal in the second half, which was great in Alvarez’s eyes. They were also able to cut off the Vikings from sending the long ball and not allowing them to play as much.
Yet, he also brought up the fact they weren’t able to put away the chances given to them throughout the night.
“Like I said, they’re pretty good in long balls. We should have been more prepared for that,” Alvarez said.
With the loss, Cabrillo dropped to 2-1 in conference play. But the season is far from over.
Alvarez said he believes they’re starting to build a stronger and deeper connection amongst each other.
“As soon as you guys bond more, I feel like that’s what gets the team stronger,” he said.
The former Aptos High and reigning Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League Player of the Year has adjusted well at the collegiate level. He has three goals and one assist for Cabrillo this season.
Alvarez has also meshed perfectly with some of his former league foes such as Gonzalez, who is a Soquel High alumnus.
“It’s been good, we didn’t have any beef or anything like that. We were all pretty close on and off the field, even in high school,” Alvarez said.
The roster features players mostly from Santa Cruz County, which is something Carbone continues to do because there is plenty of talent within the county.
It’s a good thing for the longtime Seahawks coach, who just lost a large chunk of last season’s group due to graduation.
“They come to practice ready to work and be the best they can be. It’s been a good group,” Carbone said.
Alvarez along with former teammates Carlos Gutierrez, Esteban Garcia, Alex Silva, Kaleb Plascencia and Ulises Valdez all hailed from Aptos High.
Watsonville High is also well represented by Vazquez, Jorge Garcia Partida, Aaron Rocha, Nathan Navarrete and Angel Edgar.
Other locals include Gonzalez, Isaiah Stuart, Luis Carrasco and Jack Dawson of Soquel; and San Lorenzo Valley’s Dempsey Miller, Alex Castro-Neri, Owen Garrahan, Damien and Daniel Cardenas.
Carbone added some international flair with players like Luca Venturoli and Francesco Ricciardi of Italy, Yoan Ponio and Mathis Gaultier of France, Cronan Hogan of Spain and Alex Booth from England.
Ponio has a team-best eight goals to go along with one assist, while Venturoli has four goals and one assist.
“It’s fun to coach them. To bring the world here and we have the local kids, it’s a good mixture. It’s fantastic,” Carbone said.
Up next, Cabrillo (4-3-2, 2-1) continues Coast Conference action at De Anza on Oct. 11 at 4pm.
