Varsity Soccer

Varsity+Soccer

After a successful 2013-2014 season, the Alisal Varsity soccer team had to adjust to new players and different talents. Coach Mark Cisneros said this year the focus he had as a coach was rebuilding his team, after several of his senior players graduated. “I wanted to focus mainly on the new players and focusing on the talent we did have on the team for the new year,” Cisneros said.

The team started off the preseason getting off to the right start. The team played in the Oak Grove tournament and ended up winning the overall tournament. “Winning made me very hopeful about the season. I saw a lot of good things coming from the players,” said Cisneros. However, the team did face their own obstacles. “A lowlight for me was the boys not playing to their full potential. They played very inconsistent,” he said. The preseason gave Cisneros insight into how the regular season would be and what he could expect from the team.

The regular season started off with a great victory against the Alvarez Eagles. “One of the highlights of this season was winning against Alvarez,” said Cisneros. “We scored in the last few minutes. It was a great feeling considering they’re our bitter rivals.”  The boys beat Alvarez by a score of 1-0. Another highlight for the team was having new players learn skills and be a part of the team. “We ended up having three to four players that never played high school soccer before, but immediately made an impact on the team,” said Cisneros.

However, a lowlight of the season for coach Cisneros was letting big wins go. “In the beginning of the game we would have a big lead in the game, but after putting in less experienced players we wouldn’t win the game with a big lead anymore,” said Cisneros. Senior Jorge Rosales said one of the lows of the season was losing to Watsonville on Senior Night, 3-0. Another major let down for this season was finishing in third place in league. “In my six years of coaching we’ve never finished below second, so this was definitely new for us,” Cisneros said. Even though the team did suffer a couple of losses they ended the season with a league record of 7-2-3. “This season was about rebuilding our team, and working with the talent we had,” Cisneros said.

According to Cisneros, one of the players that stood out this year was Senior Santiago Morales. “He led the team in goals and assists.” Morales agreed with his coach that winning Oak Grove Gold Cup his senior year was special. “I felt like it was an outstanding season. Beginning with the pre-season with a victory over a CCS champion [Bellarmine] was great for us. I believed in our team since day one,” said Morales.

The team made it to playoffs once again, earning the third seed in Division 1 and were granted a first round bye. Cisneros was surprised the boys were able to seed so highly. ‘Our record wasn’t good, but we had a very difficult pre-season so we had power points and that’s why we seeded high,” he said. The team played against Homestead, and lost, 1-0. “This was a perfect example of the team not playing to full potential,” said Cisneros. “We were better than Homestead, but unfortunately they played better than us that day,” he said.

The team did not meet up to the expectations Cisneros had for them, but ultimately they did work very hard. They ended with an overall record of 10-3-7.Even though the team fell out of national rankings this year, he is very hopeful for next year’s team. “I predict we’ll win next year’s CCS title, there’s a lot of talent for next year’s team,” said Cisneros.