Boys soccer: Marin Academy now three-time champions
The Marin Academy boys soccer team enjoyed a flurry of goals during its first two games of the NorCal Division IV tournament.
On Saturday, the host Wildcats found the net just once, but it was enough for top-seeded MA to claim the program’s third NorCal title after holding off North Salinas 1-0 in San Rafael.
MA is the lone team in the state to hold three NorCal titles since the inception of the tournament in 2018. The Wildcats scored 10 goals in the three NorCal matches while shutting out all three of their opponents in the process. Last year the Wildcats claimed the D-II title in NorCals.
“We had a rough game last Saturday,” Reed Leidlein said of the NCS finals loss to Terra Linda. “We came into this D-IV to prove to them we should have been higher in the rankings and we showed them.”
Playing in his final game in an MA uniform, senior Parker Mascott converted a penalty kick with 20 minutes left in the contest to seal the victory for the Wildcats.
Against the Vikings (15-6-4), the Wildcats (21-1-2) fired shot after shot in the first 15 minutes of the game – two of which hit the top of the crossbar and North Salinas goalie Nuno Diego knocked several shots away with finger-tip saves to keep it scoreless after 40 minutes.
Dominic Yu and Malcolm Zalayet both had several good chances to find the net early on, but were denied by Diego.
Zalayet, who had all four goals in Thursday’s semifinal win, collided with a Vikings defender and had to leave the game for a while to tend to his bloody nose, which slowed MA’s attack a bit. Jake Ostrander and Tristan Schauble also nearly found the net during that early first-half skirmish for MA.
To start the second half, the blue skies quickly turned dark and it began pouring, but it didn’t prevent MA from breaking through.
MA was awarded a penalty kick in the 61st minute when Yu was pulled down on the left side of the box.
“I saw Malcolm at the top of the box and he received it with his back turned. His pass back to me I was a bit late to it, but I was able to get in front of the defender and he was forced to take me down,” Yu said. “I was very relieved we scored, because this team has worked very hard all season. We were able to bounce back well from the TL loss.”
Mascott promptly found the net on the penalty, a liner into the right-hand corner sending the MA crowd into hysteria with his final goal of his high school career.
“I was a bit nervous,” Parker said of the penalty kick. “As one of the only seniors on the team, I had to step up and pick my spot and be confident and it went in.
“We just were a little frantic towards end of the first half. We just had to settle in in the second half and play our game. We came together after the loss to TL and made sure we got it done this week.”
MA coach Irving Ventura-Rafaela has seen his teams enjoy some highs to go with some lows during the season, but it’s mostly been on the high side.
“They were a good team that defended well,” he said. “They chose their moments to attack, especially with the goalie that they had. It was up to us to execute. This was a good tournament to make a statement and we did. We came out flying. Everyone put in the work and we got the win.”