Kelseyville boys spot Pierce 4-0 lead in non-league boys soccer action
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ARBUCKLE >> Giving up four goals in the first 20 minutes, the Kelseyville High School varsity boys soccer team couldn’t dig itself of a 4-0 hole while dropping a 5-3 non-league decision to the Pierce Bears on Tuesday in Arbuckle.
“We came out completely flat today, gave up four goals in the first 20 minutes,” Kelseyville head coach KC white said. “It looked like we had never played soccer before.”
Kelseyville (0-2-1) finally broke through in the 31st minute of the first half when Jake Smart scored with an assist from Julio Lopez.
“Julio crossed a beautiful ball into the middle and Jake was more physical than the keeper and put it in the back of the net,” White said.
On his team’s bad start, White said, “Ultimately, the team not being ready to play is on me. I need to do a better job to prepare them. We held them scoreless for almost the final 60 minutes of the game.”
Kelseyville even played a man down for the final 20 minutes of the game after a Knights player picked up two yellow cards and was ejected.
Kelseyville closed to 4-2 in the 72nd minute when Alex Jimenez scored the first of his two goals on a penalty kick. A minute later, Luis Valdovinos took a shot that deflected back to Jimenez, who knocked it into the net to make it 4-3.
“We pulled to within a goal playing a man down,” White said. “It was truly inspirational. The fight this team has displayed in this young season is unbelievable. They never game up, even though they played about as badly as they could possibly play in the first 20 minutes.”
Pierce scored in the final minute to gain some breathing room.
White gave high marks to the play of Valdovinos, who missed the team’s first two games of the season.
“He played wonderfully today on just one day of practice,” White said. “He was all over the field.”
Also making his season debut for the Knights was Diego Serrato.
“Diego was our starting keeper last year,” White said. “He hurt himself during his first practice of the football season. I subbed him in in about the 25th minute so the game and he was incredible back there. He made eight saves and only allowed the goal at the end of the game.”
The Knights return to action Wednesday in Anderson at 6 p.m.
