The562’s soccer coverage for the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by Beach Futbol Club.
The562’s coverage of Cabrillo Athletics is sponsored by the Cohn Family
The562’s coverage of Jordan Athletics is sponsored by John Ross, Class of 2013.
Two Moore League rivals went back and forth on Thursday evening at Jaguar Stadium, as the latest installment of the 710 Rivalry played out to a 1-1 draw between Jordan and Cabrillo.
The visiting Panthers likely felt happier about the draw, given their previous 2-0 loss at home to Cabrillo earlier in the season. Jordan also didn’t have the benefit of any bench players, but showed great determination in pushing toward the finish and generating more of the scoring chances in the final 15 minutes.
“Just to see their heart and the ability to not give up and fight through adversity, is the big reason why I was out here tonight,” said Jordan head coach Matthew Shawver, who recently took over head coaching duties for the remainder of the season. “As a coach, you can’t coach that. They’re out here playing their hearts out every single game. They have no subs, half of them are injured, they have finals–there’s a lot on their plate. So for them to come through and do everything they do, with all the adversity losing their coach and all that. I couldn’t be happier as a coach.”
The Panthers struck fast on a lightning-quick counterattack in the third minutes, as freshman Valerie Mejia was able to use her pace to get past Cabrillo’s high press, and deliver a composed finish into the back of the net.
“The speed on that girl is unbelievable, and the tenacity,” said Shawver of Mejia and her goal. “She just attacked and got past them and then didn’t panic and put the ball into the corner. She kept her composure and just placed it into the corner. That was a beautiful goal.”
After that opening strike, Cabrillo responded with dominance. The Jags had the vast majority of possession the remainder of the first half, racking up eight shots (7 on goal) in the first 40 minutes, while J-Town had just the one.
Three of those shots were from Kaylynn Zavala, who was a major threat all night for the Jags. She had a match-high 5 shots with three of them on target.Cassandra Mora also had a few quality chances, but the Jags’ lone breakthrough came from Cinthia Garcia in the 23rd minute.
After a free kick was awarded, Garcia stood over the free kick opportunity on the far sideline. She aimed at the crossbar and hit her target, sending it ricocheting off the frame of the goal and into the bottom of the goal below. That tied the score at 1-1, where they remained until the final whistle.
The Jags had multiple opportunities to add a second goal, but were unable to cash in on those chances.
Jordan’s goalkeeper Leslie Charavvia had six saves, all in the first half. Jordan also had much more possession in the second half, generating more consistent scoring chances, though they ultimately mounted just three shots (1 on goal).
“Oh, I was searching for that second goal and we just couldn’t get it,” said Cabrillo head coach Rudy Gonzalez after his team mounted several unsuccessful threats in the first half. “With these two schools, it’s a rivalry game. So in the beginning, it was a heated battle, and once the game kind of settled down a little bit, that’s when we tried to reach it. But man, it kind of felt like we left points on the table today.”
Both of these teams have been on the edge of the CIF-SS Division 7 rankings and will need to hope for at-large playoff consideration. Cabrillo hosts Compton on Tuesday while Jordan plays its regular season finale next Thursday against Millikan.
