BRENTWOOD,CA --- Brian Fonseca’s last minute goal sealed the deal for Deer Valley, helping the Wolverines win their first victory in the Bay Valley Athletic League, downing Liberty 2-0.
Seconds away from the game ending, Fonseca made the picture more clear that Deer Valley was taking home the victory. His shot took a strong bounce right out of the reach of Liberty goalkeeper Gonzalo Ordaz, ending any chance of a late Liberty comeback.
“We did better with passing and communities tonight,” Fonseca said. “We need an extra goal could be important, because you could never be certain with anytime left in the game.”
Deer Valley’s first goal came on a free kick by Rudy Saucedo. His left foot shot was precise and found the top right corner to edge the Wolverines to a 1-0 lead in the first half.
Head coach John Delaney knows Saucedo can do anything when it comes to taking free kicks
“Anything from the 30 on in, he's amazing. He has pure class. He's a great player.”
Liberty had multiple opportunities to counter back, but the most notable one was a shot by Kieren Thigpen, which was on the verge of tying up the game but Deer Valley’s Matt Wilmes tipped it out of bounds.
In similar fashion, Liberty’s Brandon Botello nailed a shot in the last minute of the game, but Wilmes once again leaped his way to keeping a clean sheet.
This is the fourth loss of the season for the Lions. Head coach Chris Strabley said that Deer Valley simply outplayed them in this game.
“We were flat. They were taking advantage of it. They were in our half of the field pretty much the entire first half,” Strabley said. “Deer Valley came out and played well.”
Both teams will play next Tuesday at 6 p.m. Deer Valley will host Antioch while Liberty will host Pittsburg.
Around the BVAL
Boys
Antioch tied with the reigning BVAL champion, Freedom. Freshman Alberto Padilla scored in the second half to give the Falcons the lead but Liam Gammond tied the game up for Antioch late in the second half to end the game 1-1.
Pittsburg beat Heritage by way of two second half goals. The first one came from Miguel Moreno. Jesus Rosas followed up after. Heritage did manage to score with 15 minutes left courtesy of Christian Mattos but came up short as they lost 2-1.
Girls
Three consecutive goals led Heritage in its first game of the BVAL season. Susanna Garcia, Fiona Valdillez, and Eryn Wheatley scored the trio of goals. Pittsburg did not go silent. Jocelyn Gutierrez nailed a free kick to end the game 3-1.
Liberty picked up its second win of the season by defeating Deer Valley 2-1. Jordan Gregory and Caytlin Carlton scored in the victory, lifting the defending champs to 2-0 in league play.
Freedom scored five goals for the second consecutive game, and also improved to 2-0. This time it came against Antioch in a 5-1 victory
