Sonora is one of those bubble teams that worry the Valley Oak League’s contenders.
The Wildcats are especially tough at home.
East Union showed no signs of letting down Wednesday, continuing its recent stretch of strong play with an impressive 5-1 victory at Sonora.
It wasn’t long ago that Sonora (2-3-1, 5-9-1overall) gave a contending team fits. On Monday, the Wildcats knocked Sierra out of first place with a 1-1 tie on the road. That allowed East Union (5-1, 7-8) to take over the top spot, where it remains one point head of Sierra with the halfway mark of the VOL season looming.
“That was a big win for us,” East Union coach Clarence Goes said. “I know that they’re always tough to beat up there, but the kids are playing very well right now. The defense is looking very good and almost had a shutout, but we made a little mistake late in the second half.”
The Lancers jumped ahead in the second minute on Victor Garibay’s goal. Jordan Kron helped double the first-half lead with a long throw-in in which the ball floated over the Sonora keeper and deflected in off Miguel Barbosa.
Kron would finish with two assists, and Scott Fisher scored twice in the second half. Jairo Baires contributed a goal and an assist.
East Union wraps up the first half of league at Manteca next Monday.
Oakdale 3, Manteca 0
In Oakdale, Javier Aguiniga broke the scoreless tie in the 58th minute on an assist from Gustavo Ruiz, who netted the final two goals in the 70th and 79th minutes.
It was a much-needed with for the Mustangs (2-3-1, 6-8-4), while Manteca (3-2-1, 8-4-1) maintains its third-place spot in the standings. The Buffaloes were without two of their top playmakers, Alex Hernandez, who served a one-game suspension for accumulating three yellow cards, and Ricardo Marin (ankle).
Manteca was caught offsides 12 times and was outshot, 18-13.
“No excuses, we just didn’t play well at all,” Manteca coach Justin Coenenberg said. “They dominated us in every aspect from the opening whistle. We were out of sync the entire game.”
Sierra 3, Lathrop 0
In Lathrop, Sierra (4-0-2, 10-2-2) got two goals from Amir Guedoir and one more from Trevor Nunes — all in the opening half.
Goalie Jason Angelo came up with some big saves to preserve the shutout. It was a nice bounce-back effort for the Timberwolves, who settled for two 1-1 ties in their last three matches.
Lathrop fell to 2-3-1 in league, 8-7-2 overall.
“We can’t take anybody lightly,” Sierra coach Jose Montes said. “We have to stay focused one game at a time and make sure we play all 80 minutes.”
Frosh-soph
Manteca 4, Oakdale 1
The match ended prematurely with roughly 20 minutes still left to play, but the game was already out of reach by that point. Oakdale’s coach was ejected with no assistant to take over.
Ramon Rodriguez, Jason Maraville, Juan DeLaTorre and Eduardo Alvaro scored one apiece for the Buffaloes (5-0-1, 7-3-1), who host East Union for a battle for first place next Monday.
