Lineup shift propels St. Joachim
Daily Pilot Cup coaches are volunteers, sometimes fathers, sometimes just kids themselves. And when it comes to strategy, the primary concern is usually making sure everyone gets to play.
But with a simple position change in the final 10 minutes of the Daily Pilot Cup clash between St. Joachim Elementary and Carden Hall on Thursday, St. Joachim Co-Coaches and fathers Dino Ciano and John Macias proved invaluable.
The move involved shifting Benjamin Ciano from defense to forward, a spot at which he had opened the game. The result was the game’s only goal and a 1-0 triumph that propelled the Sea Kings into the fifth- and sixth-grade boys’ Silver Division quarterfinals on Saturday.
The younger Ciano collected a turnover on the left wing, dribbled around a defender and fired a shot cross cage into the net to give St. Joachim its second win in as many games in the 17th annual community youth soccer tournament.
“Sometimes changing positions changes the dynamic of how the kids play,” Dino Ciano said.
Moving Benjamin Ciano up front obviously created a dynamic result.
“I think Benjamin had fresh legs when he came up front,” Macias said.
St. Joachim, which defeated Sonora, 2-1, when Jackson Young scored the game-winner with about 90 seconds left on Wednesday, had the more dynamic offense on Thursday at Costa Mesa High.
The Sea Kings had eight of the 10 first-half shots and finished with 15 shots, 11 more than the Eagles, who were playing their first pool-play game.
Young and Benjamin Ciano, playing forward, helped initiate the offensive dominance early for St. Joachim, which also received catalytic play from Max Macias, Canon Hall and Gabe Patrick, among others.
Ciano scored the first goal against Sonora.
Macias’ shot from close range was among the foremost threats against Carden Hall goalkeeper Garrett Richards, who consistently came up big for the Eagles.
“I thought Garrett played awesome,” Carden Hall Coach Luis Cervantes said. “He was, for sure, the star of the game for us.”
Cervantes also singled out defenders Sho Garcia, Thomas Dolak, Daniel Mattar and Max Morehead, behind whom Richards had eight saves.
“[St. Joachim] is a quarterfinal, if not a semifinal team, so to hold them to one goal, I thought was great,” Cervantes said. “It was a great game, a very close game.”
Sachin Wijay and Dylan Jatwani spearheaded a Carden Hall attack that produced a handful of quality chances.
First-half keeper Nicolas Aramburu made the lone save for St. Joachim, before giving way to Tim McNulty for the final 25-minute half.
Charlie Jeffs, Simon Kim, Vann Pronger, Chili Wills, Wes Hanson, Robert Del Valle and Trace Werner also contributed for the winners.
Carden Hall received contributions from Spencer Parsons, Duncan Needham, Spencer Webb, Preston Pitchess, Jakob Prifogle, Diego Cervantes and John Woodruff.
“We had a couple chances there at the end, we just couldn’t get a foot on them,” Luis Cervantes said of some crosses on which the Eagles failed to finish.
