GALT SOCCER SHUTS OUT TOKAY
GALT — Galt High’s Angel Lopez has a lot of positions listed next to his name on the roster — just about everything except goalkeeper and water boy.
He’s listed as a forward/midfielder/defender. He did all of them well during Thursday’s 4-0 victory over previously-undefeated Tokay at Walker Park. Lopez is not alone — eight others on Galt’s boys soccer team have multiple positions listed by their names.
“We have guys like Angel and Jason Welch that are our utility guys, they’re just the kind of guys you can put anywhere and they will get the job done well,” Galt coach Dane White said. “We’re seeing this team’s really developing that way, a lot of guys we can put in a lot of spots, and they’ll do the job, which I think is going to be a big strength of ours.”
Lopez and Welch (midfielder/forward) each scored in the victory, and Arath Chavez scored the first and the fourth goals in a battle of undefeated
teams. Tokay entered the contest with a 3-0-2 record, while Galt is now a perfect 9-0.
“It’s a good little wake-up for us,” Tokay coach Ruben Gomez said. “We’ll be fine in league, but you’ve got to play better when you come across teams like this.”
Both teams began the game with high energy — every loose ball was sprinted after, every pass was battled for. But it was Chavez who made something happen in the sixth minute, collecting a corner kick from Adrian Copado and driving a bullet inside the far post.
Things stayed fairly even until just before halftime, when Lopez elevated to get a head on a free kick from Welch and send it into the net.
“We haven’t given up an early goal like that, so it kind of surprised us a little bit, like hey wait a minute, we’re not supposed to give up any goals this early,” Gomez said. “OK, maybe we need to pay attention to detail. When you play a good team, you have to pay attention to detail on the field. We lost track, two set plays, two goals, plus you have to at least make them work for it a little more.”
Welch worked for his goal in the 52nd minute, breaking free in front of the goal before sidestepping Tokay goalkeeper Luis Alvarado, who was diving at the ball. He then had to shoot around defender Nick Monteon, who had raced back to help.
Welch celebrated by punching the air, and falling slowly back onto the turf. White’s voice called from the sideline, “Welch! That’s the one time you get to do that.”
Chavez put an exclamation point on the shutout in the 73rd minute when he collected a throw-in, flipped the ball over a defender and shot the ball into the far corner of the net.
“The game plan was just play our game, don’t let us fall under their game so we don’t mess up and lose our formation,” Chavez said. “We played our own game and make sure our passes our there, and make sure we play the way we know how to play.”
Galt’s offensive players had the speed advantage and used it, putting down through balls and getting behind the defense.
“They know each other, so the kids were telling me, they’ve got quick,” Gomez said. “So we knew what they had, but still, they were quick moving the ball around. We didn’t pass the ball very well, too many long balls, not enough quick combinations.”
The win was a big validation for the Warriors before the start of Sierra Valley Conference play, knocking off not just an undefeated team, but an undefeated Division I team that won the Tri-City Athletic League title like Tokay did last season.
“This is huge for us. Tokay’s a big high school, and an excellent soccer program, and for us, I think this was a hard game,” White said. “It shows us some ways we need to improve, and it will help with our confidence going into league this year.”