The Mater Dei Catholic and Castle Park high school boys soccer teams paired up in an early season non-league match Dec. 4 at Castle Park High School.
The game was divided into two distinct halves: Castle Park led 2-0 at halftime on goals by Nicholas Magaña and Ulises Portillo. The visiting Crusaders scored three goals in the second half to walk off the field with a 3-2 victory.
Carlos Elias scored the first goal for Mater Dei Catholic while Santiago Ferrer tied the game at two goals apiece before teammate Hugo Navarro supplied the game winner on a penalty kick in the waning minutes.
Ferrer helped set up the game-winning goal when he broke into the box and was taken down by a Castle Park defender.
“We were at a disadvantage in the second half,” Mater Dei Catholic coach Jorge Zavala explained. “We needed to play our system and it worked.”
The come-from-behind win knotted the Crusaders’ early season record at 2-2.
Mater Dei Catholic kicked off regular season play with a 3-0 non-league loss to visiting Southwest El Centro on Nov. 20, topped visiting Grossmont by a 1-0 score in a non-league game on Nov. 27 and subsequently fell, 1-0, to visiting El Capitan in another non-league game on Nov. 29 before topping the Trojans.
Zavala said the team’s goal in 2018-19 is to be among the final four teams left standing in next February’s San Diego Section Division III playoffs. If such occurs, it would be a dramatic rise up the division standings for the Crusaders, who finished 5-12-4 overall last season and were eliminated in a 3-0 loss to Grossmont in the opening round if the playoffs.
The win over Grossmont to kick off this season is obviously a step in the right direction for Zavala’s crew.
“This is a deceivingly young team,” Zavala noted. “We have potential but we’re still young.”
Meanwhile, the loss was the second in as many outings to start the season for Castle Park. The Trojans kicked off the season with a 2-0 loss at San Marcos on Nov. 28.
“We had a chance to increase our lead in the first half but were unable to do that,” CPHS coach Jose Cobian Jr. said. “You never want to lose at home, especially with a 2-0 lead.”
Castle Park kicked off play in the annual Grossmont tournament last Saturday with a nil-nil draw at Granite Hills.
Meanwhile, Mater Dei Catholic kicks off South Bay League play on Dec. 20 with a road match at Hilltop, which is off to a 6-3 start to the new season following Monday’s 4-0 win over visiting Chula Vista Learning Community Charter.
The Lancers received goals from Kurt Pena, Marcos Calderon, Pablo Farias and Vladimir Villarespe in Monday’s non-league victory. Goalkeepers Erik Acosta and Luis Camarena Cea combined to make six saves in recording the shutout.
Prior to the win over the Cobras, Hilltop shut out the Imperial Tigers, 4-0, in a Grossmont tournament game last Saturday.
Pena led the Lancers in scoring with five goals and two assists through Monday’s game.
Hilltop kicks off play in the Quin Murphy San Diego County Cup with a match against Lincoln on Dec. 26. The Lancers previously defeated the Hornets, 4-2, in a non-league game on Dec. 3.
Photos by Phillip Brents
