SALINAS VALLEY — Soledad Lady Aztecs improved to 5-1-1 in the girls’ soccer pre-season with victories and a tie, while King City Mustangs suffered a couple of losses between both the boys’ and girls’ programs.
Soledad began the week with a 6-1 win on the road against Greenfield, followed by an 11-0 shutout win in San Jose against Andrew Hill and ending the week with a 1-1 tie against host Monterey.
In the contest at Greenfield, Sophia Martel scored three goals and had an assist against the Lady Bruins. Scoring single goals for Soledad were Giselle Zepeda, Precious Aguilera and Kaylee Ceja.
In the game at San Jose, Martel scored six goals and had an assist for the Lady Aztecs. Zepeda and Alexa Ruacho scored two goals apiece and Myrin Amilpa scored a solo goal.
Last Friday in Monterey, Emma Esparza scored a goal for the Toreadores and Martel scored the lone Soledad goal.
“We knew Monterey could be a tough game,” said Soledad head coach Victor Garcia. “Many of their players play club with or against our girls, and so we both knew what to expect on the field.”
Last night the game with visiting Morro Bay was melancholy for the Lady Aztecs as Martel played her last game as a Soledad player. Martel is graduating early and will travel to Japan to play games in that country before returning to play soccer for San Jose State University.
“It will be hard to replace such a good player as Sophia,” Garcia said. “We will have other players that will have to step up as we have play coming up in the PCAL (Pacific Coast Athletic League).”
Over in Gonzales, the Spartans are 4-1-0 in the pre-season as they defeated the host North Salinas Vikings 2-0 on Dec. 4 and downed the Santa Catalina Cougars by a 6-2 score in Monterey.
In the victory over the Vikings, Janelle Garcia and Valerie Oliva scored goals with Oliva assisting on Garcia’s goal. Goalie Areli Calderon-Mancera finished with eight saves.
In the win at Santa Catalina, Garcia had three goals with three assists and Andrea Amador had one goal and an assist. Oliva contributed with a goal and an assist, and Katherine Toledo and Alessandra Tejeda had one assist apiece. Mylee Roque had eight saves.
Gonzales plays its last game of 2023 tomorrow on the road with St. Francis.
The Greenfield girls rebounded from the loss to Soledad with a 1-0 win over King City. Destiny Hernandez scored the winning goal after a pass from Aundrea Sanchez.
The Lady Bruins ended the week with a 2-2 tie against Santa Catalina.
King City began the week with a 2-0 loss in Santa Cruz against the Harbor Pirates. The Lady Mustangs are 1-5 in the pre-season.
Boys’ Soccer
Soledad only had one game this week, claiming a 1-0 win against Sobrato. Brandon Munoz earned the assist on a goal by Marcos Negrete in the 25th minute of the season half.
“This week we have a busy one with three games to end the pre-season,” said Aztec head coach Genaro Espinoza. “After yesterday’s game at Aptos, we play tomorrow at home with Marina, and play Saturday at Soquel.”
Also, in their only game of the week, the Greenfield Bruins shut out the Palma Chieftains by a 4-0 tally. Hector Garcia scored two and Alex Sanchez and Gio Hernandez finished with solo goals. Credited with assists were Jesus Arroyo with two goals and Chris Castro and Ivan Gonzalez with single assists.
Greenfield improved to 3-2-0 with the win and has games this week with Rancho San Juan today at home, and plays in Castroville on Friday with North Monterey County.
Gonzales is 4-1 for the soccer pre-season after a 3-2 win over Everett Alvarez in Salinas, and a 1-0 setback on the road to Rancho San Juan.
At Alvarez, Edgar Santiago scored two goals, Jorge Uribe scored a goal and had two assists and Ulisses Mancillas had one assist. Goalie Luis Cabada finished with five goal saves.
With the win over Alvarez, the Spartans have two wins over upper division schools. Gonzales will play Friday at Palma.
King City Mustangs are 0-5-0 in the pre-season as they lost 3-1 to the Alisal Trojans. King City will host Templeton today.
