Spring Creek’s Gustabo Vargas-Fajardo (12) celebrates with teammate Aiden Javier (26) after Javier scored the Gators’ first goal on a throw-in from Fajardo against Southern Wayne on Thursday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s Alex Trejo (11) heads the ball away from a Spring Creek defender during first-half play Thursday evening in Seven Springs. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
SEVEN SPRINGS — Losing attacking talent to graduation hasn’t kept Spring Creek from abandoning its philosophy of aggressive play from the opening kickoff on the soccer pitch this season.
Scoring goals?
That’s been a little more difficult, frustrating in fact. Through their previous three outings, the Gators have manufactured just four goals.
“I need some players to step up and create some goals for me because we lost our goal scorers from last season who have been blessed to move on [to the next level],” Gators head coach Miguel Torres said. “That’s the hardest thing to do in soccer.”
Torres’ concerns surfaced again Thursday evening.
Despite relentless pressure, the Gators entered halftime deadlocked in a scoreless draw against county rival Southern Wayne.
His team finally broke through with two second-half goals during a six-minute stretch after the break and turned back the Saints, 2-1, at “The Swamp.”
“We wanted to let them know that we’re going to after them from the beginning of the game, establish pressure and I think it worked,” Torres said. “We just had to capitalize on the opportunities we created. The only thing missing in the first half was scoring the goal.”
Constant pressure allowed Spring Creek (2-1-1 overall) to win several first-touch balls and attack the goal. Midfield possession haunted the Saints, whose passes rolled into open spaces and were intercepted by the Gators.
Southern Wayne goalie Jefferson Morales collected three saves on seven shot attempts.
“I don’t want to say we were playing too soft, but we weren’t aggressive enough when it came to fighting for those one-on-one balls,” SW head coach Luis Ramirez said. “We were losing the ball a little quick. We were getting our backline and midfield gassed up the whole time.
“We had a little talk with our attacking players … make sure we play with a purpose, be more aggressive and we saw that in the second half.”
Spring Creek stayed in attack mode.
The Gators won a loose ball at midfield and received a throw-in about 25 yards from the net. Gustabo Vargas-Fajardo wiped the ball with his T-shirt and motioned to his teammates. The junior’s throw-in sailed into a crowded penalty area.
Freshman Aiden Javier managed to get a boot on it, which gave the Gators a 1-0 advantage.
Approximately four minutes later, Spring Creek drew a penalty kick. Tri-captain Jeheili Velasquez-Sanchez easily converted the shot for a 2-0 advantage.
“Those are goals we can’t be conceding,” Ramirez said.
Southern Wayne (1-2-0) climbed to within 2-1 on Alex Trejo’s header off a corner kick from Angel Ramirez. The Saints’ other two second-half shot attempts sailed wide of the net.
The Gators owned a 13-4 advantage in shots.
Morales notched seven saves between the pipes.
“They started slide tackling, the physical play was there, the toughness was there … a well-balanced game,” Torres said. “I think it was evenly matched. We were on the lucky side tonight.”
Spring Creek claimed its fifth straight victory against Southern Wayne and evened the series at 9-9-2 since 2010. The Gators are 50-16-6 against Wayne County opposition since 2010.
You may reach sports writer Rudy Coggins at prepswriter2@gmail.com or call/text 919-709-9257.
