El Farolito Blows Out Sonoma to Clinch Second Seed
El Farolito ensured home field advantage for a potential semifinal match against Napa with a 9-0 win at Sonoma County Sol FC.
The visitors from San Francisco got on the board first with a goal by Ignacio Torres in the 27th minute.
Hurick Balieiro quickly followed with goals in the 29th and 35th minutes to give them a comfortable lead going into halftime.
Balieiro was making his debut for Farolito after previously playing for the youth teams of several prominent Brazilian clubs, including Santos, Corinthians, and Palmeiras. He also scored in the second half to complete the hat trick.
But the second half was the Erik Arias show. He scored 4 times to finish the regular season with 14 goals, even though he missed one match and came on as a substitute in two others.
Herlbert Soto also scored in the 65th minute, his third of the season.
Farolito finished the regular season with an 8 game winning streak after beginning with consecutive losses to Sacramento and Academica.
They led the league with 38 goals, scored by 13 different players. They also tied Napa for the fewest goals allowed, with 11.
Napa’s Lethal Counterattack Overwhelms Oakland SC
Third seeded Napa Valley 1839 FC wrapped up their regular season with a 5-0 win at Oakland SC.
A quick transition set up the visitors’ first goal. A long ball out of the back found a Napa attacker streaking down the left sideline; he crossed the ball to Marco Manzo. Goalkeeper Kevin Esquivel met Manzo as the ball arrived, but Manzo was able to get enough on his shot for it to trickle into the net.
Napa added a second goal 3 minutes later, when Miguel Galvan’s shot from the left side beat Esquivel and give his team a two-goal margin at the break.
Napa captain Dario Pavon scored the third goal less than 90 seconds into the second half. Pavon received a pass in the middle of the field, dribbled past an Oakland defender, and blasted his shot past a leaping Esquivel.
Pavon scored a brace on a breakaway in the 52nd minute.
Guilherme Martins closed out the scoring for the visitors in the 79th minute. Esquivel was unable to handle a Napa cross and Martins was in the right spot to put in the rebound.
Napa concluded the regular season with 4 consecutive victories. They finished with the same record as El Farolito (8 wins and 2 losses), but the San Francisco club earned the second seed because they won the head-to-head meeting on April 9.
Davis
FC Davis vaulted past Oakland SC into the sixth seed with a 2-1 victory over the visiting Oakland Stompers, in the opening match of the club’s Soccer Fest celebration. Davis’s women’s team beat Napa Valley 1839 FC in the nightcap.
Davis dominated the match, but took awhile to break down the visitors’ defense.
The first goal came in the 30th minute, when Davis’s Alec Sundly’s dribbling and pass set up Nick Gosal for the finish. But Oakland’s Tommy Flora answered 2 minutes later, enabling the visitors to end the first half on even terms.
The home side won the match with a team effort in the 71st minute. Sundly passed the ball to Noah Wilson, who passed it to Aaron Schten for the finish.
Davis finished in a three-way tie for fourth place, but ended up in the sixth seed because their goal difference was -11, while Contra Costa’s was +3 and Academica’s +1.
The Stompers finished a winless season, with only a pair of draws to show for their efforts.
Quarterfinal Playoff Matchups
Next week’s semifinals include #1 Sacramento hosting #8 Sonoma, #2 El Farolito hosting Oakland SC, #3 Napa hosting Davis, and #4 Contra Costa hosting #5 Academica.
