FREMONT – The Fremont Ross boys soccer team knew defeating St. Francis de Sales was going to be a monumental task. The Knights are not only undefeated in the TRAC, but also earned the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Division I district tournament.
Dylan Brady dribbles the ball up field against St. Francis. RSR/Tony Zimmerman
So the Little Giants kept their expectations modest and ended the night pleased with the outcome, even though the scoreboard read a 4-0 St. Francis victory.
“I told them before the game I didn’t care what the scoreboard said at the end of the night, I was more worried about the product that we put on the field,” Ross coach Alex Coressel said. “We’ve had a string of bad luck and some not-so-good games and I think tonight we actually, not just played decent, but played together and played hard.”
While St. Francis controlled the play for much of the game, the Little Giants didn’t make it easy for the Knights. Ross contested the 50-50 balls, played patiently with the ball and ran step-for-step with Knights.
The first 20 minutes saw goalkeeper Mikey Contreras make several nice stops, including multiple breakaways. But the Knights finally broke through on a breakaway from speedy Scotty Upton who slipped through the Ross defenders and put one past Contreras.
Ross Sam Durbin heads the ball against St. Francis. RSR/Tony Zimmerman
St. Francis scored again in the 26th minute of the half and took that 2-0 lead into halftime.
The Knights sent 30 shots at the Little Giant goal and Contreras made 12 saves on the night and kept the Knights from running up the score.
“Ove the last couple of weeks he’s been very indecisive and we talked about that,” Coressel said of Contreras. “Tonight he wasn’t that. He was very decisive. He was aggressive and going after balls like the old Mikey. That’s what we need going forward.”
While St. Francis added two more goals in the second half, Ross also had more offensive opportunities in the final 40 minutes, firing five of its seven shots in the second half, forcing the St. Francis goalkeeper to make four saves.
“The kids came together and they battled all night,” Coressel said. “I told them we just wanted to see effort, especially with our defensive guys, it’s going to be a long night, you’re going to have to battle every single minute. The starters played 70 minutes of solid soccer and the subs at the end held their own and did some good things. Nothing to complain about, that’s for sure.”
A St. Francis shot sails toward keeper Mikey Contreras and the Ross goal. RSR/Tony Zimmerman
Ross is now 7-6 overall, 2-4 in the TRAC and will have another stiff challenge Thursday when it hosts another league power, St. John’s.
While Thursday will be another tough test, Coressel hopes this weeks games will show the Little Giants they can compete when they travel to Ashland for the opening game of the district tournament.
“(Ashland) played these guys earlier this year and lost 5-0,” Coressel said. “So a 4-0 result for us, says that, for those guys, they have confidence now going into the tournament game, it’s not going to be one of those where you go and play somebody and get your butt kicked and go home. We got a shot to move on.”