Turlock PDL soccer team debuts with lively play in 2-0 loss

For starters, let’s do something about the name.

The Turlock-based soccer team that made its home debut Saturday night at Warrior Stadium goes by San Jose Earthquakes U23 team, a name so unwieldy that – forget headlines – it’s impossible to fit across the front of a jersey.

Fortunately, the game the team plays is of a much higher caliber than its moniker, despite remaining winless after a 2-0 loss to OC Pateadores Blues of Irvine.

The club, made up primarily of Division I college athletes, is operating under the developmental umbrella of San Jose’s Major League Soccer franchise. And it entertained a gathering of about 300 fans with a skilled and wide-open game, despite failing to convert any of its multiple quality chances.

“I counted five one-on-ones with their goalie, nine quality chances and seven really high-quality chances,” said Quakes’ coach Dana Taylor, who is the men’s soccer coach at Cal State Stanislaus.

“When everybody is a little tight, the problem of finishing comes up. It’s not that they can’t finish, because they’re scoring goals for their college teams all the time. It comes down to being tight, and when you get down 1-0, you get even tighter.”

The Blues scored the first goal in the ninth minute, when Christian Gonzalez, a forward from Cal State Northridge, converted a rebound of a shot off the post by Jake Stenberg, a midfielder from Saint Mary’s College.

The Quakes dominated play from there, pushing attackers into the zone, but the Blues put away the win in the 85th minute off a stolen throw-in. Tre Hayes, a 6-foot-5 forward from UC Irvine, put home a cross from Korean Jae Kim.

“We’re trying to put the ball around and get everybody into it,” Taylor said. “We’ve been hurt in the first 10 minutes in every game so far, and I think it’s because we’re such a new team. When a team has been together for years, they instinctively do things.”

Teams at this level are able to keep a nucleus of players together for two or three years as they progress through college and aim for higher levels.

Such was the case with earlier United Soccer Leagues entries in the region, starting with the Stanislaus County Cruisers (1997-2001), who competed in USL Pro, the same level the new Sacramento Republic FC plays.

The Cruisers reached a regional final in 1998, and in 1999 ranked third in the nation in attendance with an average crowd in excess of 2,000 fans at Central Catholic High School.

Support waned under new ownership, and the Cruisers, unable to pay its players and staff, eventually gave up their professional status. In 2002, the club changed its name to the California Gold and dropped to the amateur Premier Development League, the same level as the new Quakes U23 team.

By the time the California Gold folded in 2006, crowds of under 100 were common at Johansen High. Taylor and the Quakes certainly are counting on better support than was afforded the Gold, and in that effort are promising a much higher quality of play.

“The brand, and what we’re trying to do in moving and circulating the ball, is good,” Taylor said. “We have to keep working and getting better, but for a team that hasn’t been together very long, we are a team that is very good at moving the ball.”

The Quakes (0-3-2) will play their next three games at home, including contests Friday and Saturday, both 7 p.m. starts at Stanislaus.

A win certainly would help the new team move up in the standings of the – get ready for it – Southwest Division of the Western Conference of the Premier Development League.

That’s another name that won’t fit on anyone’s jersey.

This story was originally published May 31, 2014 at 9:18 PM with the headline "Turlock PDL soccer team debuts with lively play in 2-0 loss."