Warriors start boys soccer league play 2-0-1

Fallbrook High School's boys soccer team tied its Valley League opener Jan. 17 at home against Escondido but then won league matches Jan. 19 at home against Valley Center and Jan. 24 at Ramona.

"They've gone extremely well," said Fallbrook coach Jorge Rojas of the Warriors' first three league games.

Although the Warriors failed to defeat Escondido, they overcame a 2-0 deficit in that game. The Cougars scored both of their goals in the first 20 minutes, but later in the first half Fallbrook's Carlos Chavez converted a pass from Ulysis Morales to narrow the deficit to 2-1. In the seventh minute of the second half, Chavez provided the ball to Nahun Ayala, who scored the equalizer.

The Warriors took four shots in the first half and twelve in the second 40 minutes.

"I think we had numerous goal scoring opportunities," Rojas said. "Unfortunately the third goal didn't come, but definitely happy that the boys maintained their undefeated streak at home."

Fallbrook's two pre-league losses were at Patrick Henry and at Oceanside.

The Warriors also had to come from behind to defeat Valley Center. Yerry Mendez scored with an assist from Morales to give Fallbrook a 1-0 lead, but the Jaguars tied the game later in the first half and the halftime score was 1-1.

Valley Center scored early in the second half, but in the 48th minute Wyatt Rollins tied the game at 2-2 with an assist from Mendez.

"We scored almost immediately after as a response," Rojas said.

With less than two minutes remaining, Mendez passed to Ayala, who scored the winning goal of the 3-2 game.

"It was actually during stoppage time," said Rojas.

The score gave Fallbrook a come-from-behind win as opposed to settling for a come-from-behind tie.

"That was an improvement, definitely, on our behalf," Rojas said. "The boys definitely played the full 80 minutes of competition and their effort and focus gave them that win towards the end of that game."

The score of the game at Ramona was 1-0. Ayala scored the game's lone goal with an assist from Mendez. Fallbrook goalkeeper Craig Person made eight saves.

"He had a phenomenal game," said Rojas of Person.

The Fallbrook defense also included contributions from outside left back Rollins, inside left back Morales, inside right back Karlos Rubio, and outside right back Timothy Foster.

"The boys continued to impose their will," said Rojas. "I couldn't be happier. They're completely focused on performance. They're assertive yet continue to pay attention to detail in our system of play."

The win over Ramona gave the Warriors a 10-2-5 overall record including the 2-0-1 league mark and extended Fallbrook's undefeated streak at home to 11 games.