Golden West gets much needed win in roller coast contest against Exeter
By Patrick Dillon @PDillon_SGN
VISALIA – The Golden West Blazers had a roller coast contest last Wednesday night when they defeated the Exeter Monarchs 2-1. The deciding goal came off the foot of Marquis Carrillo during a penalty kick half way through the second half.
“I am happy for our team,” Carrillo said. “We continued to push on even though it was a tough game and I am happy we got the win.”
Carrillo took the ball into the box on the far side of the field in the 30th minute of the second half. It was a rare attack by the Blazers (4-2-1) as the Monarchs (4-3-1) had the upper hand in possession up until that point. As Carrillo moved the ball into the box, he was tripped up by an Exeter defender resulting in the penalty kick. Carrillo immediately hopped up and signaled he wanted to take the shot. Golden West head coach John McCaw took notice of Carrillo’s clutch mentality even before Carrillo buried the game winning goal in the lower left corner of the net.
“We were looking around as coaches as to who should take it,” McCaw said. “That shows great confidence. Love that in a player.”
Carrillo not only showed confidence during the penalty kick, but during the first half too when the Blazers were constantly on the offensive. They used short passes in what is known as the triangle to work the ball up the sides of the field, preferring the near side. Carrillo took the ball down into the near side corner of the field 15 minutes into game. He centered the ball but it was knocked away before attacking Blazers reached the zone.
Still, there were a couple breakdowns and missed passes. McCaw admits this is one of the areas his team still needs to work on.
It took another 11 minutes for the Blazers to go ahead 1-0, but eventually one of their shots crossed the goal line. On another Blazers attack up the near side the ball was crossed to Christian Trujillo in the middle of the penalty box. He was able to take control of the ball while a couple of Monarchs’ defenders slipped in the mud. That allowed Trujillo an open shot from the right side of the box for the goal.
The Blazers went on the counter attack shortly after, but it was the Monarchs who scored the second goal of the game. An attack up the far side of the field was kicked in to the upper left corner of the goal just seconds before halftime. The shot was so perfectly placed it even had McCaw talking.
“That was a great shot,” McCaw said. “That kind of scrambled the game a little bit for us.”
Exeter head coach Pete Renteria was unavailable for comment.
The momentum shift to Exeter was very evident as they mimicked Golden West’s dominate possession in the first half. If it wasn’t for Golden West’s back line being as organized as they were another Exeter goal might have slipped through.
Golden West’s non-league schedule gets significantly more difficult this week. Last night the Blazers took on the Clovis Cougars. The final happened after press time. Tomorrow night they will take on the Tulare Union Tribe at home beginning at 6 p.m.
Exeter returns home tomorrow night to face the Monache Marauders at 6 p.m.
