Crushers cruise past city rival

Vintage rolls past Napa in MEL battle

By ANDY WILCOX
Register Sports Writer

With another big league game and even bigger nonleague contest coming up next week, the Vintage boys soccer team seemed like a team on a mission Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.

Playing archrival Napa for the third time this season, the Crushers broke out of a three-game scoring slump of sorts with a 4-1 rout in the second of the teams’ three Monticello Empire League meetings.

“We were outplayed by a very good team tonight,” Napa coach Felipe Nieto said. “We never seemed to be in it, mentally or physically. (The Crushers) touched the ball very well, and it’s amazing how deep their bench is. We had four or five on our bench and it made a difference.”

Even Juan Chavez scored for first-place Vintage (15-1 overall, 10-0 MEL), capping the scoring four minutes before halftime. The senior, despite leading the Crushers with 12 goals coming in, hadn’t scored since before league play.

It was the most impressive goal of the night, mostly because Jonny Avalos planted a 40-yard pass from the right sideline — his second assist of the night — directly in front of the net. Chavez caught it as it hit the ground, drilling it past Indians goalkeeper Marco Ruiz.

Chavez said his team drew motivation from the fact the second-place Indians (13-7-2 overall, 6-3 MEL) used the side of the field near the locker rooms to warm up before the game.

“They came out and took our spot, where we warm up — it’s part of our routine,” Chavez said.

The Crushers also felt like a new team because they broke out their new beige long-sleeve jerseys, made for cold nights such as this one. Napa, meanwhile, wore dark blue short-sleeved shirts.

Chavez had four more shots on goal in the second half but couldn’t get it past Ruiz or Henry Rabanales, who took over as Napa’s goalkeeper after Ruiz received a red card with 23 minutes left.

Avalos assisted Ricardo Moreno on the game’s first goal at the 10-minute mark. Alfonzo Martinez made it 2-0 with an assist from Ricardo Medina.

Max Alvarez, Napa’s leading scorer, halved his team’s deficit at 22 minutes, beating about four defenders with an unassisted goal. But Vintage’s Luis Campos answered at 31 minutes, booting in a loose ball after Ruiz wasn’t able to grab it.

Alvarez managed only a shot on a free kick in the second half, as he was closely guarded by George Martinez and Javier Cuevas.

Francisco Arreola and John Douma also came close for Napa in the second half, but the Indians had no shots on goal after Ruiz’s ejection forced them to play with 10 players.

“The boys played a really great game,” said Bernie Ochoa, who co-coaches the Crushers with Dennis Sweeney. “They scored early, which was big after we’d lacked scoring lately, and they got a lot of shots. It was important to get another game up on Napa (in the MEL standings).”

Next up for Vintage is Thursday’s MEL home game against Vacaville, the only team other than the Crushers to beat Napa this year. Then comes next Saturday’s 11 a.m. showdown at Jesuit, which Vintage beat 1-0 in the section quarterfinals last year. Napa visits Armijo on Thursday.

Junior varsity

• Napa 1, Vintage 1

James Laverge put the Indians (8-0-3 MEL) on the board in the first half, but Manuel Benitez got the equalizer for Vintage (9-0-2 MEL) in the second half.

Crushers coach Miguel Ayala said midfielders Ramzi Ali and Mario Gallegos also played well for his team.

Napa Valley Register Copyright © 2009