Just as the last minutes of daylight were dying, Oak Grove and Willow Glen were only getting started. Well into the first half, a light foul gave the Willow Glen Rams a free kick some 25 yards out. From that distance, Willow Glen was in a position to score, so that’s what midfielder Nedim Gutosic intended to do. He cracked the ball with his left foot, firing a line drive over the keepers’ outstretched hands and under the crossbar for the first goal of the night.
“I was pretty shocked. Amazed. I didn’t expect to score it at all,” Gutosic said of his free kick that gave Willow Glen an early lead that stood up, as the Rams defeated the host Eagles 2-0 Friday night in BVAL-Mount Hamilton play.
The result was not shocking because Willow Glen has been a standout in CCS this season with a 5-1-0 record and is placed fifth in this week’s Prep2Prep Rankings. Willow Glen coach John Llamas attributes his team’s success to the defense.
“The offense was good too, but mostly the defense did well. They had some very good dribblers who gave us a headache, but the goalie made some excellent saves and the sweeper played strong,” Llamas said.
The Rams defense was something to take note of because Oak Grove had five or so fewer shots on goal than Willow Glen did, so whatever was happening with the defense was working. Particularly throughout the first half, the Rams dominated possession in the midfield, and when they lost the ball, the midfielders doubled back to solidify the defense.
They played with two up top, four in the middle, and four in the back, so whenever the midfielders supported the defense, the Oak Grove offense was almost always outnumbered.
One player, who appeared to be playing as a central attacking midfielder, was critical to both the offense and defense. Gustaf Holmer did an exceptional job of frustrating Oak Grove with his ball handling and tremendous athleticism. To stop one Oak Grove attack, Holmer flicked an oncoming ball hard over his shoulder to clear it. That would have been normal had he not been facing his own goal with pressure behind him and jumping for the ball.
Holmer has only been in America for five months as an exchange student from Sweden, but ironically he definitely schooled some players in soccer.
“I juked the other team pretty bad,” Holmer said with a smile. “They hit me pretty hard a few times, though.”
By the second half, Gutosic’s early goal was also the only one, so the score was 1-0 to Willow Glen. The Eagles knew that a potential second goal could put the match out of reach, so they started the second half with a bang.
In the 42nd minute, senior Ernie Cabrera led one attack down the right side of the field and shot a low ball for the far post. Unluckily for him, the shot pulled over too far, straying a couple yards left of the goalpost.
Although the Eagles were showing a dramatic change in tempo, Willow Glen countered the attack with another goal in the 45th minute. The Rams entered the penalty box, and although their play got messy, Gutosic carried the ball through some pressure towards the center and pocketed the ball in the lower right of the goal, making the score 2-0 Willow Glen.
Oak Grove persevered and made several promising attacks in quick succession. Three players, Sammy Barajas, Javier Ceballos, and Miguel Castillo, consistently made strong attempts for a goal, but the Willow Glen defense made it difficult. The keeper Anthony Macias had to dive on top of a loose ball a number of times in the second half.
In the 68th minute, Ceballos took a free kick that was similar to that of Gutosic, but Macias made an impressive one-handed save, protecting the final score of 2-0.
Willow Glen fought off Oak Grove largely because the Rams outsized the Eagles. Willow Glen may not have been head and shoulders above the Eagles in terms of skill, but physically, it helped. The Rams were able to muscle the Eagles off of the ball, which gave them an advantage on defense.
At the end of the game, Gutosic praised the team’s chemistry. “I really enjoy the unity on our team. If one player goes down, we all pick him up. It helps out with our offensive plays because we’re alike now. We know how each other plays.”
