“Close games are won or lost on mistakes,” said Wilson coach Mark Hervin after the Bruins’ match against Cabrillo.  Fair enough, coach—but sometimes they’re tied because of them as well.  That was exactly the case yesterday afternoon, as Wilson and Cabrillo ended a hard-fought match locked into a 1-1 tie that may not have broken in either direction if they’d played another 40 minutes.

The scoring started early—Wilson controlled the game for the first 20 minutes, using their strength and close spacing to keep Cabrillo off the ball, and pressing with their attackers (Bryan Argüello in particular kept the Jags in a defensive mode).  They got a few tries early, and put their goal in just nine minutes into the contest, when a free kick by Hunter Campbell was higher than Jags ‘tender Jose Duron thought it would be—he stepped back and jumped, reaching upwards and getting both hands on the ball, only to have it bounce through and one-hop into the net.  “That goal was atrocious,” said Cabrillo coach Pat Noyes.  “There’s a difference between making a save and catching the ball, and that was one we should’ve caught.”

But in a battle this tight, one mistake deserves another.  The equalizer for Cabrillo came just thirteen minutes later, when it was the Jags who set up for a free kick about midway down Wilson’s side of the pitch.  They like to use a little trickery on their free kicks, and they ran Miguel Hernandez by the ball, pretending to kick it, then letting Luis Godinez tee it off.  After the senior did, the ball sailed, and then took two bounces right into the goal, untouched by any Bruin or Jaguar.  “That was a poor free kick through two defenders—and we didn’t clear it,” said Hervin. 

The goal came just two minutes after Wilson missed a near chance to take a commanding 2-0 lead, after they sent a corner into the box—Bruin Sammy Skotnes was in position, and headed a dinger off the right post.  From that point on, Cabrillo maintained the momentum for the rest of the half, getting the equalizer, and controlling the pace.  They picked up their tempo, using their speed to run around Wilson’s strength.  After the Jags stole their second consecutive Bruin throw-in, Phillip Regalado had a clear shooting lane, but missed the top right corner of the goal by about a foot.  The Bruins began to bully up in the last few minutes, but Duron kept the Jaguar net clear, sending the game to halftime knotted 1-1.

The second half would be determined by who managed to bring the game to their style—would it be Wilson’s strength, or Cabrillo’s speed?  The answer: a little of both.  Cabrillo spent more time deep in the Bruins territory, but were virtually unable to run with the ball at all, as the physical Bruin back line smothered them.  But the Jaguars did a good enough job using their speed in the middle of the field to keep the Bruins from getting many tries.  Wilson took six shots to Cabrillo’s seven, but both put three on goal, and both goalies (Duron for the Jaguars and Javier Torres for the Bruins) put the wall up and kept the game tied. 

In terms of who won the battle on the ball, give the middle of the field edge to the Bruins, because of their physicality, and the perimeter edge to the Jags.  Totaling up the number of throw-ins, goal kicks, corner kicks, and free kicks that each team had in the second half, Cabrillo had 46 to Wilson’s 20.  Given that Wilson scored their game-winner over Poly off a designed free-kick play, you know that coach Hervin wants to let his Bruins tee up more often than that (at least, say, half as much as his opponents do). 

But ultimately strength and speed neutralized each other, and the game ended in a tie.  “They’re a hard-hitting team,” said Noyes.  “We’re not.  I think that we didn’t adjust to the hammering their back line was doing.  It just wasn’t our game.  But Wilson’s great, they’re going to beat some teams.”  The Jaguars are 1-1-1 in league, and still very much in the hunt for a playoff spot.

“It is disappointing to tie at home after two good wins on the road,” Hervin said after the game.  “It feels like a defeat to me, and the boys are disappointed.”  The loss drops the Bruins to 2-0-1—their next match will be on Friday, hosting Lakewood.  The Jags go to Jordan, and then play their next six at home.