SAN JOSE, CA - The Mt. Pleasant boys soccer team put it all together for its first league win of the season, avenging an earlier defeat with a 2-0 win at Leigh Friday afternoon.
The Cardinals (1-2-5 BVAL-MH), who won a CCS Division II co-championship last year, have had a difficult time so far in the competitive BVAL-Mount Hamilton Division, having tied five of their seven league matches.
One of the two defeats in the first half of league play came in crushing fashion against Leigh a few weeks ago, when Mt. Pleasant led 1-0 at half only to lose 3-2 behind the scoring of Leigh forward Dominic Sorich, who had two goals and an assist to lead the rally.
"We decided we were going to mark him from the very start. We felt he was the only guy who was going to hurt us," said Mt. Pleasant head coach Nick Arellano. "After what he did to us, we had to do something.”
With Sorich under control, and Leigh striker Neil Aoun limited with an injury, the Longhorns were unable to do much offensively.
After stopping Leigh offensively, the Cardinals turned to Alexis Rodriguez to win the game offensively. Rodriguez was a threat all afternoon, scoring both of his team's goals.
“Our mindset was to win the game. We came from a losing streak, and a tying streak, and we tried our best just to get the ball in the net,” said Rodriguez.
The Longhorns (6-6-1, 4-3-1), who just last week were in first place in the BVAL, have now dropped two in a row, scoring only one goal combined in the two matches.
After the game, Leigh coach Mario Farfan had a long talk with his team about changing their attitude.
“We've got to be more positive, we’ve lost the team aspect," Farfan said. "They’re not playing for each other anymore. It’s changed everything."
Leigh dropped into a third-place tie with Branham and the two rivals will meet next Wednesday afternoon (3:15 pm) at Leigh. Mt. Pleasant hosts Leigh Wednesday night (5:30 pm).
