Sierra’s Eddie Aguilar converted a direct kick in the game’s 72nd minute Monday to complete his hat trick and salvage a 3-3 tie with host Weston Ranch in Valley Oak League soccer action.
“I saw the goalie and he was a little behind the wall,” Aguilar said. “I knew that I had to try my hardest to bend it around the wall and get it in and luckily that’s what happened.”
That goal came after the Cougars (5-1-2 VOL, 11-6-2 overall) took a 3-2 lead with 14 minutes left in the game off a direct kick by Kevin Medina who got the ball to a streaking Cristian Parades who headed it in for the goal.
“It was a free kick and my partner Kevin (Medina) told me to make a straight run,” Parades said. “I followed his direction and luckily I was able to head it into the goal.”
Medina had a part in the other two Weston Ranch goal – his corner kick 28 minutes into the game was headed in by Bryant Ortiz to tie the game at 1-1 and he gave the Cougars a 2-1 lead with 4:50 left in the first half when he juked his way around a Timberwolves defender and got the ball into the net.
“They were both set pieces,” Medina said of his two assists on the header goals. “The first one Bryant (Ortiz) happened to be there and Cristian (Parades) headed in the next one.
“On my goal I cut in and I cut out and then I just took a shot and got it right in the corner.”
In the 13th minute Aguilar gave the Timberwolves (5-1-2, 11-6-2) a 1-0 lead when he took an assist from Juan Guzman and tied the game at 2-2 late in the first half when he took a pass from Eriq Kurys near midfield and after drawing the Weston Ranch goalie out of the net broke free for the goal.
“We were playing a man down because of a red card for a good part of the second half,” Sierra coach Joe Pires said. “And even though it was just a second yellow, the new rule says that you can’t sub.
“It was a very good game and the kids never gave up so for us a tie is good coming out of here with points against a good team.”
Pires said Timberwolves defender Jonathan Vargas “saved our bacon” many times.
“We all communicate and I am always behind and getting everyone’s back,” Vargas said. “When people get behind them I always have to be there and tell them to mark up. I am kind of like the center.”
Cougars coach Francisco Cisneros was frustrated with getting the tie instead of the win.
“I felt like tonight we let two points get away,” Cisneros said of the difference between a win and a tie in the standings. “We had the lead twice and a couple of defensive miscues got them back in the game and that last goal on the direct kick hurt more because we were up a man and we had the lead late in the game.
“Then we make a foul and there is not much you can do about that one. It was a nice goal – he placed it right in the corner, it had some pace and nobody was going to stop that. I am just very disappointed we lost two points tonight.”
With Weston Ranch and Oakdale having completed the last game of the first half of the league schedule the Cougars are in second with 16 points and the Mustangs are tied with Sierra at 17. The Timberwolves have played one more game than Weston Ranch and Oakdale.
Frosh-soph
Weston Ranch 3, Sierra 1
Nery Guerra, Antonio Rodriguez and Ariel Silva each had a goal for the Cougars.
Oscar Guitron scored the Timberwolves goal off of an assist from David Huerta.
