- El Capitan’s first varsity victory at their new stadium comes courtesy of the Girls Soccer team.
- The defending CCC champion Gauchos start league play 2-0.
The El Capitan Gauchos Girls Soccer Team captured a memorable moment for students and fans alike when they won their first game at the new El Capitan High School stadium on Friday, January 9th, against Buhach Colony. The win marked the first victory for the school in their new stadium.
The match began with both teams aggressively pursuing the ball. Both squads were able to take early shots in the first few minutes, but neither side was able to score right away. However, just before the fifth minute, El Capitan’s Lia Garcia Del Castillo found the back of the net to score the first goal for the Gauchos, giving them the early lead. Just three minutes later, after a physical stretch of play in the middle of the field, Castillo was able to corral the ball on a fast breakaway towards the right side of the field and added to El Capitan’s lead with a long shot from the right flank that slipped past the Thunder goalkeeper. The Gaucho Girls were feeling confident after securing an early two goal lead, but Buhach wasn’t ready to give up.
Around the fourteenth minute mark, the Thunder pushed forward, looking to respond, but the shot attempt was blocked by the Gauchos’ goalkeeper Alexia Ruiz. Buhach kept up the relentless scoring attempts on offense, but the Gaucho defense was solid in forcing hurried shots and securing missed goals. Buhach managed six shot attempts at the goal in the first half, but the team wasn’t able to score.
In the second half, the competitive pursuit from both sides continued. El Capitan and Buhach appeared to adjust their defenses and were able to hold one another from further scoring. The back-and-forth battle continued as the game clock continued to tick. Neither side was able to create a clear opening as the ball was challenged repeatedly across the field. Eventually, it was the Gauchos who prevailed with the 2-0 win.
After the match, Thunder head coach Richard Howard reflected on his team’s effort and noted that the slow start made the game difficult early on. “First half, we started a little bit slow,” Howard said. “In the second half, we made some changes and came back out.”
Howard felt his team responded well after halftime and executed the adjustments that were made. “Second half, the girls executed exactly like we asked them,” he said. “We saw them possess the ball a lot more.” When asked about when momentum shifted, Howard pointed to the opening minutes of the match. “Right out of the get-go, El Cap started out hard,” he said, adding that his team worked to respond when faced with adversity. “We called out for a couple changes, made some adjustments, and they battled back hard.” Howard emphasized that the match served as a learning experience moving forward. “We either win or we learn,” he said.
As the final whistle blew, El Capitan secured the win and moved to 2-0 in league play. The Buhach Colony Thunder fell to 1-1. Next up for both teams, El Capitan will host Golden Valley, while the Thunder will go back home to host the Los Banos Tigers at their new stadium.
- Photos by Average Local Media Staff ↩︎
