The Scotts Valley Falcons boys soccer team claimed round one of the crosstown rivalry with San Lorenzo Valley, beating the Cougars, 2-1, in Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League play.
Scotts Valley (4-2-1, 2-0 SCCAL) sent in an early onslaught by scoring back-to-back goals in the first five minutes of what proved to be a physical and exciting game.
Charlie Stock took a steal and scored the first goal unassisted for the Falcons, quickly followed up by another unassisted goal by Matt Seligman that bounced off the SLV keeper.
After the two quick strikes, the teams were scoreless for the rest of the half as they hammered away at each other.
“It is always intense playing the valley at their home field,” Falcon head coach Jeremy Ross said. “These two teams just clash every time we play.”
Early in the second half, San Lorenzo Valley (1-4-1, 0-1-1 SCCAL) came out chomping at the bit and seemed to keep the ball in the Scotts Valley backfield most of the half. Eric Johnson punched in the Cougars’ only goal off a corner kick to put SLV within a goal of the lead.
As time grew shorter, SLV kept the pressure on in the offensive zone, and things got more and more physical.
“We had good possession, good ball control and passing,” SLV coach Nate Hill said, “but we were playing catch-up the whole game. That makes it hard to win.”
At one point, Cougar forward Landis Macmillan was sent to the sidelines with a broken nose that was crammed over toward his eye and wouldn’t stop bleeding after he took an elbow to the face. The Falcons were awarded a yellow card later in the match for a punishing body check.
SLV forward David Camua took a pair of shots on goal in the waning minutes, but the stingy Falcon defense, led by senior fullback Stephen Doub and sophomore goalie Brenny Hillan, batted away a number of shots to preserve the score and save the win.
“Those guys (SLV) tied the Harbor boys,” an elated Doub relayed to his teammates after the game. “We are in this thing.”
The Falcons improved to 2-0 in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League with the win. Scotts Valley played against Santa Cruz High after press time Wednesday, Jan. 12, followed by a 7 p.m. match Friday, Jan. 14, at Aptos.
San Lorenzo Valley played Soquel on Jan. 12 and will have a break until the team’s next match at Santa Cruz at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 19.
