STOCKTON – The fifth annual boys San Joaquin Soccer Alliance Senior Showdown was Sunday at St. Mary’s High School and the Tri-City Athletic League all stars downed San Joaquin Athletic Association 3-0 on Sanguinetti Field.
Representatives from the Valley Oak League were split up between both teams with Zimri Rico and Justin Ruiz from Sierra and Antonio Zuniga from East Union playing for the TCAL.
Rico took an assist from Ruiz to for a goal and a 2-0 lead for the TCAL.
“I caught the ball he (Ruiz) passed me,” Rico said. “And I saw a defender coming toward me and I knew I had to do something about it, so I got around him and saw the open goal and I shot.”
Family obligations prevented Rico from attending the team practice on Saturday.
“I couldn’t make it yesterday,” Rico said. “I called coach and asked him if I could still play and he said I could play. I was so excited.”
Rico had just one goal during the regular season and that was on a penalty kick.
“I had some open shots this year,” Rico said. “This was my first goal from the field this season.”
Zuniga helped shore up the TCAL defense.
“We did all we could,” Zuniga said. “This was a great experience playing against all these players.”
Weston Ranch’s Francisco Cisneros was called upon to coach the SJAA.
“I wanted these guys to get one last game,” Cisneros said. “Everyone is disappointed – we didn’t want to come out and lose – but at least they got to come out here and play with the people they play against.
“I enjoyed it. I had a lot of talented players but we just came up a little short.”
Cisneros had Eddie Acosta, Deon Coffey, Mariano Perez and Miguel Morales from his Cougars Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship squad on the SJAA team.
“This was a great experience,” Perez said. “Everyone got to meet each other but sometimes the ball does not go your way. Things happen.
“It was fun because you got to spend time with people from all around the league – some you didn’t even know – and it was a good experience.”
This was the first time players from the VOL were represented.
The game had to compete with a soccer showcase for participants.
“We invited 50 players,” SJSA co-founder Will Martin said. “But there is a college showcase going on in Fresno today so we had 38 or 40 make it out here.”
This weekend is about more than just soccer.
“We had about 36 people show up yesterday,” Martin said. “After an hour or so training we brought them all in the cafeteria and talked with them about career-oriented items. We sat them down in small groups and built Linkedin profiles for them and had a really good time.
“Yesterday when everyone got together there was talk of how some of these guys were fighting on the field last week, and this week they were able to come together and build a team. The animosity quickly disappeared.”
