Napa Beats Sonoma
Third place Napa Valley 1839 FC completed a season sweep of the Wine Country Derby with a 2-1 win over Sonoma County Sol FC.
Napa’s Dario Pavon was in the lineup for the first time in 3 weeks. He was suspended for one match after receiving a red card in the April 30 match vs. the Stompers and his club had a bye last week.
Pavon quickly showed that he wasn’t rusty from his long layoff. In the 13th minute, Javier Alcarria dribbled around a pair of Sonoma defenders and found Oscar Ortiz making his run along the left side. Ortiz crossed the ball to Pavon, who was taken down hard by a Sonoma defender for a penalty kick.
Goalkeeper Arturo Ornelas guessed correctly, diving to his right to stop the spot kick, but Pavon pounced on the rebound and tapped it into the net for the only goal of the first half.
Ortiz doubled the home side’s lead in the 62nd minute, on a shot from 25 yards out that eluded a diving Ornelas and tucked inside the far post.
Sonoma got on the board in the 68th minute, off of a corner kick. Goalkeeper Carlos “Manzana” Ayala made a diving stop on Sonoma’s first shot attempt, but the rebound came out to Sebastian Herrera, whose blast from 25 yards out went over Ayala’s head and settled in the back of the net.
Farolito Beats Oakland SC
For the second consecutive week, second place El Farolito scored a late goal to grab the full three points and keep pace with the league leaders.
The San Francisco-based club beat Oakland SC 2-1 in their final home match of the regular season.
After a scoreless first half, Ricardo Delgado opened the scoring for the host side in the 61st minute. His free kick from 25 yards ducked under the crossbar and inside the far post as Oakland goalkeeper Kevin Esquivel made a desperate effort to keep it out.
Julio Cervantes scored the equalizer for Oakland in the 80th minute, his 6th goal in 8 matches this season.
Jesus Moreno’s goal 4 minutes later was the game-winner for Farolito.
Goalkeeper Jonathan Barona made his first appearance of the season for the San Francisco-based club, as they continue to reassemble many of the players who helped them get to the conference final last year.
Sacramento Beats Stompers
Manolo Pina scored a hat trick as first place Sacramento Gold grabbed the lead early and never let go in their 4-0 win over the visiting Oakland Stompers.
Pina scored a first half brace with goals in the 3rd and 30th minutes.
The host side padded their lead by converting two second half penalty kicks. Pina scored his third in the 73rd minute and Alejandro Macias added another in the 88th.
Davis Beats Academica
Host FC Davis came storming back in the second half to beat Academica SC by a score of 2-1. Academica won the first match of this season’s Cowtown Classic on April 9 by a score of 3-1.
The visitors got on the board first, on a goal by Kevin Capetillo in the 21st minute.
But the home side tied the match with Axel Ramirez’s goal in the 53rd.
And Soruosh Salari-Namin secured the win for the home side in the 88th minute.
Next Week
After a one-week break for Memorial Day weekend, the conference returns to action on June 4th, with FC Davis hosting Sacramento, the Stompers hosting El Farolito, and Academica hosting Oakland SC. The next day, Contra Costa FC hosts Napa.
