Pioneer Valley’s Alyssa Castillo had a terrific day in goal in the season opener at Cabrillo. She had 19 saves and was busy from the opening whistle to the end.

But the Conquistadores fired over 30 shots towards the net and were successful five times.

Cabrillo playing an aggressive and dominating game, defeated Pioneer Valley 5-0 at Cabrillo High Tuesday afternoon.

“She’s something that I’m going to build on,” Pioneer Valley coach Manuel Casillas said about Castillo. “We had a couple players who did stand out, but we just need to get all 11 of them playing together and that will take a bit of work.”

The Panthers had several chances in the first 10 minutes, but was unable to pull the trigger and score a goal.

Kanani Davis led the Conqs defense in thwarting any attempts by the Panthers, then, after the two quick goals by Melatti, the Panthers began to play more on their heels. Cabrillo took control.

“We missed some opportunities at the beginning of the game,” Casillas said. “If we had connected it would have changed the tempo of the game altogether.

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“For the first 10 to 15 minutes, we were in front of the goal, but we just couldn’t put it in. They countered, had a breakaway and scored — the physiological effect that it has on a team is hard, especially with a young and inexperienced team that we have.”

The Conquistadores started the game a little sluggish, which frustrated Cabrillo coach Derrick Wong.

“With a veteran team it was kind of a surprise that we were kind of jittery,” Wong said. “It was our first real contest since we didn’t have a chance to scrimmage last week.”

The Cabrillo-Lompoc scrimmage set for last Tuesday was rained out.

“The scrimmage kind of takes away the edge,” Wong continued, “but since we didn’t have that, I guess that’s what it was.”

Pioneer Valley seemed to have a bit of a problem adjusting ti the natural grass surface at Cabrillo after practicing on the artificial turf at home.

“We have the turf at home,” Casillas explained. “The biggest thing was when we kicked the ball.

“When they touch the ball like we do on the turf, it goes three yards away from them when they expected it to go 30. So that was hard to adjust to at the beginning.”

Diamonne Mitchell started the scoring in the 11th minute, breaking in after receiving a pass from Sammy Marquez who stole the ball at midfield.

A few minutes later, sophomore Alisha Melatti took over and used her speed, able to score twice in a quick span. In the 25th minute, Kady DeTemple sent a pass to Melatti, who broke in and scored. Two minutes later, Melatti found herself alone momentarily in the box and sent a low shot into the far corner of the net to make the score 3-0.

“That is going to be a big thing for us — a lot of speed,” Wong explained. “We don’t play long ball even though we have it.

“We will pick and choose our moments to play that — we know we can play a shorter ball, then Diamonne, Rebekah or Alisha can jump on it and create space on their own with their speed.”

Castillo made nine saves in the first half, including a big save on a short kick by Kristina Goodchild late in the half. She made numerous stops on Cabrillo shots well inside the penalty box area.

In the second half, Cabrillo once again controlled the ball and made several shots in close. Mitchell, Rebekah Rogers, Marquez and Lanae Magers had nice chances that were either just wide or were stopped by Castillo.

Marquez finally broke through in the 50th minute. Castillo — on a goal kick — sent a low, short kick straight up the field. Marquez intercepted the kick and drove in alone, scoring from about 20 yards out.

After that, Cabrillo pounded the ball into the Panthers zone, but was kept off the board until the 77th minute when Julie Leyva tapped in a corner kick from DeTemple to end the scoring.

“The second half was better,” Wong said about his team’s play after the break. “Timing is still off a little bit, but at least the ideas are forming.”

Casillas is hoping that his team will gain experience quickly during the pre-season.

“We have a lot of returnees, but not many have experience,” he said. “Some of the girls recognized what they have to work on — if we start focusing on those things that we struggle with, then we will be okay.”

Cabrillo plays at Nipomo on Thursday while Pioneer Valley hosts Lompoc.

Santa Ynez 1, Nipomo 0

Senior Aolani Rueff scored on a penalty kick in the 20th minute, and the Pirates began their season with a win at home. The game was the Titans’ season opener as well.

Santa Ynez goal keeper Jessica Mauk earned the shutout. Defenders Tanner McCandlish, MacKenzie Mexico, Diana Diaz and Melissa Pauley bolstered Mauk.

St. Joseph 3, San Luis Obispo 0

The Knights won a non-league game at home in both teams’ season debuts.

Andrea Zimkowski and Destinee Coles each racked up a goal and an assist for St. Joseph. Zimkowski knocked in an unassisted goal in the 22nd minute for St. Joseph’s first score of the year. Coles assisted Ashley Edwards on the Knights’ second goal.

Arroyo Grande 8, Santa Maria 0

Katie Reinhardt scored two goals and had an assist as the Eagles romped to a season-opening win on Dave Boyd Field at Santa Maria’s Ralph Baldiviez Stadium.

Junior Varsity

Cabrillo 7, Pioneer Valley 0

The Conquistadores jumped out early and won by the same score as last year against the Panthers.

Brittany Ybarra, Sarah Heath and Heather Leyva each scored two goals in the win. Devon Bedell added a single goal.

Boys soccer

Pioneer Valley 2, Cabrillo 2

Cabrillo boys soccer started out its season strong, earning a tie against last year’s PAC-7 League champs.

Duece Galvan found Sean Greathead 10 minutes into the second half, as Cabrillo tied Pioneer Valley 1-1. The Conqs took the lead later on Armando Torres’ penalty shot.

However, Pioneer Valley salvaged a tie with a goal in the final minute as Elvis Zaragoza put in a header. Cabrillo goalie Jake Palozilo had six saves, while Omar Jiminez played an overall strong defensive game.

San Luis Obispo 2, St. Joseph 0

The Tigers held off the Knights in this season-opening non-league game at San Luis Obispo.

St. Joseph goal keeper John Carlo-Boyle picked up where he left off last year for the Knights. He made 16 saves.

Santa Maria 4, Arroyo Grande 2

Andy Contreras scored twice in the first half, then Nestor Alvarez snapped a first-half tie with two goals in the second as the Saints won their season debut at Arroyo Grande.

The Eagles countered Contreras’ first-half goals with two of their own, but Santa Maria shut out the home club after intermission.

December 03, 2008