LATE SURGE HAS CAPITAL IN HUNT
Win against Santa Fe High helps turn season around for boys soccer team
Aseason of transition is turning into a season of hope.
All it took was a familiar foe to perhaps save the Capital boys soccer team’s season.
When the Jaguars faced Santa Fe High at home in a District 5-5A match Oct. 6, the Demons appeared to be the team in the driver’s seat for a potential Class 5A State Tournament berth. Capital was coming off consecutive district losses to Albuquerque Rio Grande and Albuquerque High to start the 5-5A season 1-2. Even worse, the Jaguars were a shorthanded bunch, as a couple of players remained ineligible and their goalkeeper was on the sidelines with a concussion.
All the while, Capital was adjusting to first-year head coach Luis De La Cruz’s system, which was different than what former head coach Eugene Doyle used in developing the program into one of the best in the state. What De La Cruz knew, though, was that a rivalry match can do wonders for a struggling team.
“This was what they call in Spanish, un classico,” De La Cruz said. “You cannot lose those.”
The Jaguars didn’t, handing Santa Fe High a 3-0 loss and suddenly vaulting themselves back into the state tournament conversation. It started a four-match winning streak that ended Wednesday, as district-leading Albuquerque High used a penalty kick in the second overtime to down Capital 2-1 at Jaguar Field.
The loss dropped the Jaguars (11-6 overall) into a second-place tie with the Demons at 4-3, but Capital controls its destiny. If the Jaguars beat Albuquerque Sandia on Saturday and Santa Fe High on Oct. 24, they will finish alone in second place and put themselves in position for an at-large bid for the 5A bracket.
It would be an impressive feat considering the challenges Capital endured to get to this point.
“It would be a great opportunity for us,” junior midfielder Esuar Soto said. “But we have to take advantage of it.”
The Jaguars showed they are capable of seizing the moment against the Bulldogs, the reigning bigschool champion. Albuquerque High pounded away at the Capital goal for much of the second half, trying to pad a 1-0 lead, but came away empty. Suddenly, the host school began to regain its composure and possessed the ball more effectively, and the Jaguars broke back in the 64th minute when Roberto Arreola crossed a pass to Jose Perez and he one-touched it into the lower right of the goal for the equalizer.
“The team just started touching the ball again,” Perez said. “That’s when we usually play better. And then we start moving their [defense] around. I was just there for the cross at the right time to tap it in.”
That goal was an example of what De La Cruz wants to see out his team: possession plus passing leading to opportunities.
“When I got here, it was more about one player taking it all the way to the top and score by himself,” De La Cruz said. “That just tires you out. I give props to Doyle for all the work and success he had here, but I was just trying to change it up a little bit. Just trying to touch it all the way from the back to the front.”
De La Cruz changed the formation from a 4-4-2 alignment to a 3-5-2, which put more pressure on the three back-line players in exchange for better possession from the midfield. It also added more responsibility for the wing players in the midfield, who had to do their part on both ends of the pitch.
“It’s risky for our defense, so us midfielders we have to get back and play a lot harder and don’t risk any balls,” Perez said. “As a winger, it’s the hardest position for me because it’s
up and down all [match].”
What made it harder for the Jaguars was the lack of depth — something that was unheard of in the past. They lost several players early on the season to grades, and it wasn’t until this week that a few of them returned.
Capital welcomed back forward Eduardo Martinez, plus midfielders Jordan Pacheco and Christian Sotelo against the Bulldogs, and they provided much needed depth because the Jaguars were down to as few as 13 players at one point.
“They helped us a lot, because some of us are not in that good of condition,” Soto said.
Still, the Bulldogs steadily wore down Capital with its depth of 22 players and liberal substitution that kept them fresh. Ultimately, it came down to a foul on junior Jonathon Gonzalez in the penalty box in fourth minute of the second overtime that allowed Albuquerque High to leave with the win as freshman Andres Robles knocked the penalty kick past Ivan Delgadillo into the lower left corner.
“They’re the current state champs, and I had flashbacks to a preseason match against Rio Rancho,” De La Cruz said, referring to a 1-0 loss to the Rams on Sept. 11 in a similar fashion.
“It’s just a matter playing well under pressure, and we’ll get more victories if we do.”
Now, though, the goal becomes winning their last two matches and seeing if that will suffice in obtaining an at-large bid. If the breaks go Capital’s way, that season finale against Santa Fe High will have playoff-like intensity.
“We’re in a tough spot, and we had a chance to take this one [Wednesday],” Perez said. “We just gotta play hard and we got to win.”
It’s a far better position the Jaguars are in now, as opposed to where they were just 10 days ago.