Rivals Dos Pueblos and San Marcos Battle to Scoreless Draw in Boys’ Soccer
Dos Pueblos goalkeeper Isaac Jimenez Saved a Penalty Kick to Preserve His Clean Sheet
A crucial Channel League contest between the Dos Pueblos and San Marcos boys’ soccer team’s ended in a scoreless draw on Saturday afternoon at Warkentin Stadium.
Dos Pueblos goalkeeper Isaac Jimenez proved to be the man of the match as he maintained a clean sheet, highlighted by a diving save to stop a San Marcos penalty kick and the ensuing rebound.
“Obviously we had some stellar defensive and goalkeeper play,” said Dos Pueblos coach Matt York. “Our midfield worked really hard on a hot day, really traveling most of the pitch.”
San Marcos had a golden opportunity to score a goal after a handball violation in the box by Dos Pueblos set up a penalty kick in the sixth minute. Javier Elias sent a shot to the right of Jimenez who deflected it away and Elias’ shot off the rebound was also deflected by Jimenez.
‘I was just trying to guess where he was going. Luckily I blocked it and the second rebound I blocked it again and my defense was there to clear it off the line,” Jimenez said. “I’m very happy with my team. We fought very hard today. We played a very good game with players out.”
San Marcos goalkeeper Rodolfo Ramirez also had a stellar match. In the 15th minute Tiago Rodriguez took a free kick from straight on about 25 yards from goal and blasted a shot over the wall that Ramirez was able to punch away.
The Royals had slightly more solid goal-scoring opportunities as the game went on, but failed to capitalize.
“I think {Dos Pueblos} made it hard to play the way we wanted to, but we still needed to be better in our offensive third with those last balls,” said San Marcos coach Paul McLean. “We did a good job {defensively}. We stayed organized in the back.”
In the 72nd minute, Jose Ramirez played a corner kick into Cash Evers, who sent a ball into the box. Favian Rosales got his head to the ball, but his attempt went just wide.
Dos Pueblos {3-2-4 overall, 1-2-1 Channel League} will host Oxnard on Tuesday. San Marcos {2-2-3 overall, 1-1-2 Channel League} will host Buena on Tuesday.
“All the games are good. I think in this years’ Channel League, any team can beat any other team,” McLean said. “I think there’s a lot of parody, which is good for our current position because I don’t think anybody is going to run straight through the league so there will be opportunity to climb our way back to where we want to be.”
