Two years removed from a league championship season, the Sobrato boys soccer team is still searching for some form of success this winter. So far, the Bulldogs have yet to come away with a win.
The Bulldogs dropped to 0-2-1 Monday with a 3-0 loss to Andrew Hill in Morgan Hill. After seven matches this year, Sobrato is still searching for its first victory.
“We are coming along,” coach Ricardo Martinez said. “We are getting better. It’s starting to come together a little bit better now that everybody is back from break. Everyone understands the way it works with how they are running patterns and all that stuff. The speed of play is picking up a little bit more … the score doesn’t show how we played.”
After falling behind 2-0 in the opening 15 minutes, the Bulldogs showed steady improvement over the final 60-plus minutes. Led by infusion of youth on the offensive side of the field, Sobrato put more and more pressure on the net.
Freshman Damian Zuniga and sophomore Danny Nomura kept the Sobrato offense moving, but they could never finish with a goal. The pair combined for 10 Sobrato shots on goal.
It was the best match the young starters have had all year, Martinez said.
“I told them they have to look for each other because they are fast and they both have good ball control,” he said. “They did work together. We just have to get that midfield line to gel a little bit better and give them support.”
Martinez continued: “The young players are just being able to work with each other and gelling together. They are some of the more committed players I have this year.”
After losing so many players in the past two years because of graduation, the Bulldogs are being infused with youth and new hope in the future despite the winless record. A combined seven players are either a sophomores or freshmen, while the team brings only five seniors to the field.
“We are rebuilding right now,” Martinez said. “The score isn’t really indicative of how we played. Right now, we are having trouble finishing, but we work on it. We are putting in a lot of time on scoring, finishing and crossing but in a game situation, it is much different. That’s something that is mental.”
And the players are slowly starting to show improvement.
“I think the main thing is just the speed of play,” Martinez said. “When you are up against people that are bigger and faster, you kind of have to learn to do more stuff individually. It teaches them to be more comfortable with the ball because of the size. It forces them to think more and think faster because they need to react faster based on the opponent.”
On Monday against Andrew Hill, the team was overwhelmed on the defensive end and pushed off the ball on offense. But the loss will only benefit them in the future.
When the two teams meet again at the end of the month, the results could be different.
“I tell them every game what is in the past is in the past,” Martinez said. “We will learn from those mistakes and move forward. We will learn from these games and move forward.”
