Tuesday wasn’t the first time that the Weston Ranch boys soccer team has been behind at the half this season.
But it was the first time that the Valley Oak League’s top team needed a bit of luck to keep its unblemished league record spotless, squeaking out a 2-1 road win over Kimball in Tracy.
“We were battling some weather in the first half, and we went into the half down 1-0,” Weston Ranch head coach Francisco Cisneros said. “We’ve been down before, so we talked about keeping our cool and coming and doing what we needed to do in the second half and that’s what we ended up doing.
“It wasn’t our best performance.”
Playing without a pair of starting midfielders, including leading scorer Robert Gonzalez, Weston Ranch was unable to find a rhythm early on but managed to put things together when they came back out for the second half. Elmer Figueroa put a ball from Elvin Bolanos in the back of the net for the equalize, and Bolanos was assisted by Edgar Molina for the go-ahead goal that proved to be the last of the game.
Cisneros said it was the performance of goalkeeper Francisco Vega that made the difference. While a blown Kimball penalty kick in the second half proved to be a blessing, Vega was able to stop a pair of 1-on-1 attacks that would have tied the game and ended up with six saves in all.
“We were missing two of our midfielders and were battling the weather, it wasn’t bad all things considered,” Cisneros said. “We’ll come back out and work harder.”
With the victory, Weston Ranch improves to 7-0 in VOL play, and 12-6 overall. The Cougars have a bye on Thursday, and will return to the pitch on Tuesday, Jan. 22 when they travel to Modesto to take on the Central Catholic Raiders. Weston Ranch beat Central Catholic 3-0 earlier this season.