SAN JOSE - Alisal brought home the hardware Saturday night in the final match of the Oak Grove Gold Cup, taking down Bellarmine by a score of 1-0. It was the second match of the week between the two teams, who played to a 2-2 tie on Tuesday afternoon.
The Trojans controlled the ball well early and kept Bellarmine’s offensive chances to a minimum, taking advantage of poor passing and keeping the ball on their offensive side of the field. As the half carried on, the Bells began to take more control of the ball, but weren’t able to move it across midfield to create scoring chances.
Sophomore forward and midfielder David Tapia put the only score of the night on the board in the 22nd minute, taking a pass from Santiago Morales in front of the goal and putting it in the right hand corner of the net.
“My partner gave me the pass, and I knew I needed to score it, so we could get the win and get the trophy,” said Tapia.
From there on out, Alisal’s defense pitched a shutout, successfully keeping Bellarmine off the board despite the multiple opportunities given to the boys in blue. For the remainder of the first half, the Bells moved the ball in to the offensive zone but had trouble setting up opportunities to score. Their best chance came on a shot by Kobe Carr in the 37th minute that sailed just north of the crossbar.
Emotions flared on both sides in the second half as the Bells pushed into the offensive zone. Bellarmine seniors Nick DeQuiroz and Alejandro Cadenas both received yellow cards in the 60th minute, and Alisal’s Roger Carrillo earned himself one about 10 minutes later. The Bells made many opportunities for themselves, including three free kicks and three corners, but none of them resulted in scores.
Forward JB Bruggeman had the best shot of night for Bellarmine from right in front of the goal three quarters of the way through the second half, but the shot went right to Alisal keeper Daniel Lomeli.
“This time we didn’t put our whole bench in the game, and we worked harder, that was it,” said Lomeli about the keys to the game. “They (Bellarmine) were outstanding. They were missing a couple guys, but they did great.”
Alisal (2-0-3) erupted in celebration at the sound of the final whistle, dousing coach Mark Cisneros with water and yelling jubilantly. In the Trojans' three appearances in the Oak Grove Gold Cup, they have brought hope the championship three times.
“We made some mistakes the last time out, it was a game we should’ve walked away with,” said Cisneros. “Things happen. We thought about our game mentally, our soccer IQ. Still working on that, but I thought they came out here and did a really good job.”
“I think Bellarmine was better today than they were on Tuesday,” he added. “They made some adjustments and it made for a really good game today. I’m proud of my boys. They worked really hard to the final whistle.”
As for the Bells, the loss is the first of the season and the first for new coach Justin Johnson. Now at 4-1-1, Bellarmine looks to improve over the coming winter break.
“I think we had about 90 percent of the looks we wanted to see and we really have to finish them,” said Johnson. “We have to be a little bit more careful with the ball and not losing it in tough spots.”
“Other than that, we just have to focus on execution. Once we get some more training, I think over the winter break we’ll get some more training in and start working on execution.”
Bellarmine returns to take on Mt. Pleasant December 30 at 10 am. Alisal’s schedule doesn’t slow down, as the Trojans take on Mitty December 27.
