The562’s soccer coverage for the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by Beach Futbol Club.
The562’s coverage of Cabrillo Athletics is sponsored by the Cohn Family.
Goals have been plentiful this season for the Cabrillo Jaguars, but they nearly ran out of time on Wednesday evening at Jaguar Stadium. The home team outshot the visiting Oxford Academy, 16-3, but the teams were tied at one goal apiece with less than two minutes to play.
Fortunately for the Jags, a well-placed corner kick from Duane Baker found the head of Moises Estrada for the late winner as Cabrillo improved to 5-1-1 with a 2-1 victory over the top-ranked team in Division 7.
“We overlooked them a little bit, but I think it was maybe a little fatigue from yesterday. We’ve played a lot of games early in the season,” said Cabrillo head coach Pat Noyes after the win. “Maybe we’re just getting a little fatigued mentally, but I think we took them too lightly. But we stuck together, and we got the header at the end to win it. I’m okay with that.”
The second goal came with just minutes to spare as it appeared the Jags appeared headed for a frustrating draw. Cabrillo forced Patriots goalkeeper Marius Sobremisana into seven saves in the second half as they bombarded his goal with 11 shots.
In that decisive moment, Baker was able to win a corner for Cabrillo–their seventh of the match–and sent in a perfect ball to the back post, just over the hands of Sobremisana and onto the head of Estrada, who made no mistake tucking the ball underneath the crossbar.
“We had a lot of chances, and we just wanted to put them away,” said Estrada after scoring the game winner. “I felt relieved. But honestly, we had a game yesterday, so I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty tired. So it was just a big relief.”
Cabrillo struck first in the opening half, as Nathan Mosqueda headed home a goal just five minutes before the break. Sophomore Jesus Torres sent in a perfectly-placed cross, allowing a flat-footed Mosqueda to power his header past the Oxford goalie.
As Cabrillo dominated the action in the second half and mounted the pressure on the Patriots, the Jags conceded a goal against the run of play in the 57th minute. Oxford was able to counter with a nice through ball to sophomore Carlos Miranda who finished his chance well and tie the score, 1-1.
“I felt like we just kind of thought ‘Okay, we're gonna get it, we're gonna get it, then oh no, we're on our heels and we're chasing,’” said Noyes of the Oxford goal. “And to their credit it was a nice through ball, the kid made a nice run and he finished. So yeah, give them credit.”
Cabrillo has played a wide array of competition this season, and have scored at least two goals in every match they’ve played. In total, the Jags have scored 32 times in seven matches as they close in on the start of Moore League play next week.
After playing four games over the last six days (including two back-to-backs) the Jags will host El Rancho on Friday at 5 p.m. in their final pre-Moore League tune-up. The Jags will host Long Beach Poly next Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in their league opener.
