Davis boys soccer ties with Lathrop, remains unbeaten early in WAC play
The Davis High boys soccer team is off to its best start in recent history.
Less than halfway through the season, the Spartans have nine wins, more than the past three seasons combined.
Ninos Isaac, the Davis coach in his second full season, says the team is well-rounded with seven players that have scored multiple goals and 10 players with at least one assist.
They won the Gregori tournament to start the season with four shutouts, beating Oakdale, Manteca, Gustine and St. Mary’s-Stockton.
They entered Friday’s Western Athletic Conference game against the Spartans of Lathrop High a perfect 3-0 in league play and are in the process of chasing their first league title since 1993.
Despite not playing its best game, Davis remained unbeaten in the conference, finishing Friday’s match tied 0-0, moving its record to 9-2-1 overall and 3-0-1 in the WAC.
Davis had a few chances in the open field in the first half, and at one point late in the second half earned three straight corner kicks. They weren’t able to connect on their final pass.
“I think we expected for ourselves to do a little bit better,” Isaac said. “The basic difference today for us was we weren’t connecting on our passes, everything else was fine. When they had the ball we pressed them pretty good, but just were not connecting on those final passes.”
The game was a battle of two young teams, as both Spartans squads are led offensively by underclassmen.
Lathrop’s leading scorers are freshmen. Andres Hurtado-Garcia and Alan Hernandez each have five goals and sophomore Angel Barajas four. They also lead the team in assists and have combined to set teammates up 12 times.
Sophomore Gabriel Abarca leads Davis with five goals and six assists, junior Carlos Varela has scored five goals and has two assists, junior Easton Lund four goals and senior Jon Fregoso three goals and five assists.
The four have led Davis to its best start in years but labored through injury Friday. Fregoso played just 30 minutes, re-aggravating a nagging hip injury and Varela powered through an ankle injury, playing 55 minutes.
After seeing that neither team had momentum after the first half, Isaac opted for a more conservative formation with four defenders and three defensive midfielders to ensure Lathrop’s young trio couldn’t get a chance at goal.
“The way the game was going, it just didn’t feel like our day,” Isaac said. “And if it’s not your day, you don’t want to lose. So we won our first three games and we remain at the top of the league.”
Davis entered Friday’s contest on a four game winning streak. After starting the season with tournaments where at times they played two games in one day, Isaac is hoping the Christmas break will allow the players to rest before they dive back into WAC play Jan. 4 against Beyer.
“We’ll regroup over the Christmas break, have some turkey and apple pie and then do it all over again.” Isaac said.
Boys soccer scores
Delhi 3, Hilmar 0: The Yellowjackets fell to 2-8 on the season with Friday’s non-league loss.
Riverbank 2, Pajaro Valley 2: The Bruins fell to 0-1-1 in the Powerade Tournament Clovis, on day two of the tournament. They are 7-4-1 overall and will play Denair on Thursday.
Johansen 1, Los Banos 1: The Vikings were unable to pick up their second WAC win in Friday’s matchup with Los Banos.
Mountain House 3, Beyer 0: The Mustangs led 2-0 after the first half and added one goal in the final 40 minutes to secure the victory. Senior forward Carey Montgomery had a hat trick just a day after scoring five goals against Kimball.
Ceres 0, Pacheco 0: The Bulldogs moved to 3-7-2 overall after Friday’s tie in a WAC game. They are sixth in the league at 1-2-1 heading into Christmas break.
Girls soccer
Carondelet 5, Enochs 0: The Eagles fell to last year’s North Coast Section Division I champion at home Friday. They move to 3-3 on the season and will travel to Clovis East on Thursday.
This story was originally published December 17, 2022 at 11:18 AM.
