East Union’s Gio Padilla blasted two second-half goals in two minutes Thursday to give the Lancers some breathing room in a 3-0 win over Oakdale in Valley Oak League boys’ soccer action at Dino Cunial Field. 

 “I have been trying to shoot from the outside,” Padilla said. “And with the first one I had the chance and I took it.

 “The second one was a little more of a team effort. We were all pressuring and we saw a chance, so we took it and we scored.”

 East Union (2-0 VOL, 5-2-2 overall) got on the board in the 30th minute when Christian Tapia got a corner kick to Noe Martinez who got the ball into the net for a 1-0 lead. 

“Our system of play is possession and we use the width of the field,” Lancers coach Ronnie Green said. “They are very defensive, physical, athletic team which kind of slowed us down for a while but I knew once we cracked the door open we would be all right.

 “In the 30th minute we used one of our set pieces on a corner got a beautiful goal, perfectly scripted. In the second half in the 61st minute we scored on a great shot by Gio and then in the same minute we pressed real hard and Gio got another goal, back to back. Then I played my entire bench so 27 players played tonight and it worked out great for the team.”

 Green found his goalie Fernando Segura in of all places the baseball team.

 “Fernando Segura had not played soccer since his freshman year,” Green said. “He is the East Union ace pitcher and the baseball coach Gene Ballardo called me and told me had a goalie for us. I told him that was great and I wanted to see what he could do.

“He came out and he has been a starter ever since. He is getting better and better every week, game after game, building his confidence with a lot of clean sheets this year and very few goals against.”

Segura had just one save, but his aggressive play kept the Mustangs (0-1-1, 0-4-1) from getting anything set up.

“Today I was playing a little more confident,” Segura said. “I was trying to play a little more aggressive to keep them from scoring. 

“A shut out was nice, especially against a good team.”

Alex Arroyo assisted on the first goal and Eduardo Gonzalez the second.

Sierra 7, Kimball 1

TRACY – It took the visiting Timberwolves (1-1 VOL, 4-4 overall) a bit to get used to the turf field at Don Nicholson Stadium, but once they did they rolled over the Jaguars (0-2, 4-5-1).   

Sierra led 2-0 at halftime. 

“It was a very fast-paced game,” Timberwolves coach Joe Pires said. “It took us few minutes to get a feeling for the turf field.

“In the second half we got in the groove, got a couple of quick goals and then got rolling and got everyone in the game.”

Miguel Villasenor (assist) and Adib Guedoir scored two goals each for Sierra. Joey Velasquez (two assists), Emiliano Sanchez and Alex Mendez added a goal apiece with Gerardo Magana, Gabriel Cervantes, Brayan Nunez and Alex Cervantes each getting an assist.  

Luis Acosta had some big saves for the Timberwolves in the first half and finished with five saves.

Ripon Christian 0,

Denair 0

DENAIR – John Van Vliet posted seven goalie saves to help preserve the tie for the Knights (0-0-1 Southern League, 1-5-1 overall) in Southern League action.

“We had a lot of offensive chances but we couldn’t quite finish,” Ripon Christian coach Christian Manes said. “We played well but we were disappointed with the tie.”

Girls soccer

Ripon Christian 7,

Denair 0

DENAIR – The Knights (1-0, 3-0-2) outshot the Coyotes (0-2, 0-5) 15-2 for the fourth Ripon Christian shutout in a row. 

Rachel Oosterman got her two goals for the Knights in the first half – the first on a corner kick and the second on an assist from Tayler Alger.

Ripon Christian exploded for five second-half goals. Hailey Brown scored two of those goals with Annalies Vander Meulen, Thea Vander Meulen and Janine Prins each adding a goal. Oosterman, Meghan Johnston, Elle Van Wyngarden, Annalies Vander Meulen and Thea Vander Meulen each had a save. Nicole Chapman posted two goalie saves. 

Boys Junior Varsity

East Union 3, Oakdale 1

Samuel Diaz and Cristian Perez each scored a goal and had an assist for the Lancers.

Juan Chavez added a goal for East Union and George Vasquez had an assist. Fernando Ambriz made seven goalie saves.