The status quo ruled in Week 9, as top 4 teams in the conference standings won their matches.
El Farolito v. California Odyssey SC
On Sunday afternoon, first place El Farolito dominated the match from the opening whistle and emerged with a 3-0 win over California Odyssey SC on a cold and blustery afternoon at Boxer Stadium in San Francisco.
It was a challenging weekend for Odyssey, who had played Sacramento at Reedley High School less than 24 hours earlier, then made the 200-mile drive to San Francisco. Odyssey had only two field players available as substitutes, as well as their backup goalkeeper.
Meanwhile, the host side began facing the challenge of replacing Dembor Benson, who scored 4 goals in the club’s first 5 NPSL matches this season, in addition to his U.S. Open Cup heroics. Benson has joined Central Valley Fuego of USL League One, the club that the San Francisco side defeated in round 2 of this year’s Open Cup.
On Sunday, all the scoring took place in a three minute period in the middle of the first half. Carlos Rodriguez opened the scoring in the 28th minute on a diving header.
Two minutes later, Herlbert Soto sent in a cross and a Farolito attacker tapped the ball over to Rodriguez who blasted a one-timer into the net.
Eric Arias closed out the scoring in the 30th minute, when he found himself open in the box and converted from short range.
Farolito maintained most of the possession for the remainder of the match, while Odyssey mostly fell back into a defensive posture, mostly relying on the counterattack for their chances.
The match was very cleanly played, with only one caution, a yellow card to Jesus Martinez in the 65th minute.
After the match, Odyssey’s Head Coach and Manager David Santesteban commented on his team’s effort.
“You know, we had 87 great minutes,” Santesteban said. “We gave up three goals in three minutes. So we played well and we’re young, and we make those lapses. So for that, it’s learning and time. I think Odyssey will be a team that needs to be reckoned with, but right now, we’re taking our lumps in the learning curve. But overall, it felt great.”
The trip also brought back memories for Santesteban of his playing career .
“We’re a youth club, our main age is probably about 22 or 23. We’ve got a lot of college kids,” Santesteban said. “I remember when I played here with Fresno International, [playing] the San Jose Oaks, El Farolito back in the day in this stadium. It’s so wonderful, you know, to have the time and ability to share this experience with these young kids who’ve never played here. So it was fantastic. Great learning experience.”
Plenty of Goals in Odyssey v. Sacramento Matchup
The previous evening, Sacramento Gold FC scored three goals in the final 15 minutes of the match to earn a 6-4 win over California Odyssey SC at Reedley High School.
The home side got off to an early lead thanks to a penalty kick goal by Andres Garcia-Diaz in the 19th minute. But Marco Valdez evened the score for Sacramento in the 28th minute.
The lead seesawed back and forth early in the second half, with Francisco Murdoch Demestri giving the host side the lead, and Sacramento player/manager Kody Duff equalizing. Then Alexis Rodriguez gave the hosts another lead, but Joseph Restani responded.
Phillip Rico gave the hosts the lead for the final time before the visitors took over, with unanswered goals from Restani (76 minutes), Alonso Fernandez (84th minute), and Emmanuel Rey (89th minute).
Napa Valley Romps Over Stompers
Second place Napa Valley 1839 FC rolled to an 8-2 road win over the winless Oakland Stompers at Chabot College in Hayward.
Seven different players scored for the visitors, including Jose Maravilla (3rd minute), Oscar Ortiz (6th and 19th minute), Federico Barbieri (10th minute), Patrick Neill (30th minute) Miguel Lara (38th minute), Ulysses Vega (73rd minute), and Sebastian Carbajal (80th minute).
Oakland’s goals were scored by Fabian Oviedo Barrantes (77th minute) and Mader Montreux (89th minute).
San Ramon Earns Crucial Road Win at Oakland SC
Third place San Ramon FC recovered from a 7th minute goal by Arman Mogharei and roared back to claim a 4-1 win over Oakland SC at Oakland Technical High School.
After giving up the early goal, the visitors responded with goals from Braulio Maravilla (20th minute) and Edgar Castaneda (43rd minute).
The visitors put the match away in the second half, with goals from Cole Barrett (47th minute) and Nate Carrasco (75th minute).
Next Week
Next week’s matches include Sacramento hosting El Farolito, Napa Valley hosting Oakland SC, and California Odyssey hosting San Ramon.
