Trojans wing Cardinals in first outing of the season

On Tuesday afternoon both the Orland and Corning High soccer teams came out in a blaze of slightly disjointed but talented glory that could only mean one thing - the beginning of soccer season for both.

The matchup had its fair share of speed and excitement, but it was Orland that came out with the first game victory, 2-0.

As the faceoff between the two rivals got underway it appeared that the Cardinals would be dictating the offensive pace in the first half as Corning came forward with vigor, challenging the Orland back line and taking a few shots on goal.

The Trojans, with a great deal of height and size kept the visitors at bay, and made their own offensive attacks but were unable to pull the trigger on any goals.

With the clock continuing on Corning continued to pressure. Despite the speed of action from both sides, time on the first half was called, and the game remained scoreless going into the break.

When the two teams emerged for the second half, Orland was obviously determined to dominate the remainder of the game, and so the Trojans did.

With Aldrick Rosas' size and the speed of Francisco Guerrero, Marcos Martinez and Jose Parra coming up the sides, the Cardinals began to fatigue shortly after the beginning of the 45-minute window.

Sensing this, the Trojans upped their attack. After a shot on goal from Aldrick Rosas around the 63rd minute that was so hard that the keeper grunted when he absorbed the force of the boot, Orland took it up a notch.

The Trojans scored their first goal of the game in the 67th minute, when Guerrero shot from close range off a Trojan corner kick and into the left corner of the net as the defending Cardinals looked on from a cluster in the middle.

The Cardinals continued to play impressive defense, but their offensive efforts were snuffed out by the well-conditioned Orland side that continued to hammer forward.

The Trojans scored the last goal of the match in the 81st minute when Marcos Martinez nailed a shot through the middle while under immense defensive pressure from the Cardinals. The shot, low and to the left, skated in past the diving goalie to give the home team the 2-0 win.

With the victory, Orland head coach Ross Sandberg was pleased with his teams effort against what he called a "Team that is very respectable, both the players and the coach."

He continued, "We lost eight starters last year, and now I'm working with younger kids and getting them learning and reteaching certain aspects of the game. This was a physical game and it was also the first game of the year for both of us, but I think we did well."

Corning coach Brad Martin congratulated the Trojans on the win, before adding that his team needs to make a few tweaks saying, "We need to work on conditioning. We started off strong with small passes, but the longer you play the harder the small passes get."

The Cardinals were also missing four key players for various reasons, but Martin feels the loss will not affect his team's abilities to be successful during the season. He commended his team's effort despite being down late in the game, saying, "I liked how the team battled throughout the entire game."

Corning hosts Los Plumas on Monday, while the Trojans host Live Oak on Tuesday.

CONTACT Emily Saint-Evens at 824-7990 or esaintevens@tcnpress.com.