MSOC: 'Riders keep 35-4A mark perfect, 6-1
Friday night's game at Roughrider Stadium. (Photo by John Krueger)
CENTER -- With three cancelled matches in their non-district play, the Center Roughrider soccer team wanted to take advantage of playing the 'smaller' District 35-4A schools early on in league play. The mission was completed Friday night when CHS completed a sweep of Hudson and Diboll with a 6-1 verdict over the Lumberjacks at Roughrider Stadium.
The win improved Center to 2-0 in district play as the 'Riders evened their season mark at 4-4. Center must now set its sights on the 'heavy hitters' of league play when they travel to Jacksonville on Tuesday night (JV at 5:30/varsity at 7 p.m.), before hosting Palestine on Friday and then traveling to Nacogdoches on Tuesday, Feb. 22.
"Beating Diboll was a much-needed win because we really hadn't played much early in the year with all the weather cancellations," Center Head Coach Richard Ruiz explained. "It was a way to go into play with the big schools ahead that gave us confidence.
"Now we have momentum going for us going into the tough part of the district schedule and it can make all the difference in the world. We're rolling and the kids' attitude is up and we're playing our best soccer of the season so far. This will really help carry us in the next few games."
In the win over the 'Jacks, Eduardo Chavez scored Center's first three goals of the night and finished with four total. Rene Solis added one goal and Alex Perez scored the team's final goal.
The Roughriders led 4-0 at intermission and then added a goal early in the second half to create a 5-0 lead.
Chavez then put the 'icing on the cake' with 16:17 remaining when he took a long pass, beat Diboll's last defender 15 yards outside the box and then slapped a shot past the Lumberjack goalie and into the back of the net for a 6-0 advantage.
Less than two minutes later Diboll scored a fluke goal when a long pass enabled a Lumberjack player to get deep on the CHS defense and Felipe Parra appeared to slip, giving the Diboll player a clean shot at the goal. But the damage had long been done.
Center won the game because of its aggression on the offensive end of the field, always putting pressure on the Diboll defense throughout the match. It's the type of play that Ruiz hopes that his team will continue into the next phase of league play.
"Everything has kind of clicked for us as soon as we started district," the CHS coach said. "Our players have looked a whole letter better as far as passing and we've made huge strides in communication the last couple of weeks. The players have seen how important communication is and how much it helps us on both offense and defense.
"Now we've got to stay aggressive against the bigger schools because it is the way we play. They have a bigger selections of players than we do and we don't have the luxury of a deep bench, so we have make sure we're in good physical condition for those games."
Ruiz said the play of sweeper Parra has been a key thus far and will continue to be a key in the games ahead.
"We have an excellent sweeper that plays that position and is really tough," Ruiz said. "He's a senior and a great communicator. He leads by example.
"Individually and as a team we need to stay aggressive as we have in the last two games in the ones ahead if we want a chance to continue our winning ways."