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Truckee soccer | Boys run past Vikings, Greenwave

Anthony Gentile
agentile@tahoedailytribune.com
Truckee's Manny Sarabia celebrates a goal with teammates Ethan Rohlf and Oscar Ingnez during the Wolverines' 4-1 win at South Tahoe on Monday.
Anthony Gentile / Tahoe Daily Tribune |

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE — The Truckee boys soccer team fell behind South Tahoe early in Monday night’s match — then got rolling to remain unbeaten in league play. The Wolverines scored four unanswered goals in a 4-1 win over the Vikings, their 11th straight.

“It was a very good game,” Wolverines head coach Casey Eberhardt said. “We kind of came off a little slow to start off the first half, and we were just able to build.”

Truckee (13-2-2 overall, 10-0 league) controlled possession early, but found itself trailing after 15 minutes. South Tahoe (6-5-1, 6-4-1) opened the scoring on its first shot of the match — a header from forward Danny Lizaola off a free kick that went in over an outstretched Gabriel Serna.



The Vikings took a 1-0 lead on what would be their only shot of the first half. Truckee continued to generate chances, and tied the game in the 27th minute with a picturesque strike from Thomas Arnstein — the senior fired a driven shot from outside the 18-yard box that curled into the right corner of the net.

Arnstein’s goal tied the match, and eight minutes later Truckee produced another high-quality goal. From just outside the box on the left side of the field, Truckee sophomore Manny Sarabia unleashed a shot that flew into the top right corner of the net — that goal gave Truckee a 2-1 lead it would take into the break.



“They were some good hits — Tom and Manny are good players, and they aren’t afraid to have a shot,” Eberhardt said. “Wherever they are, they can at least get it on frame — it was nice to have the lead going into halftime.”

Truckee had a majority of the scoring chances in the second half, and broke down South Tahoe on the break with a pair of late goals to put the match away. The Wolverines made it 3-1 in the 75th minute on a brilliant piece of individual play from Sarabia — he took a through-ball from defender Jose Gonzalez and dribbled by charging South Tahoe goalkeeper Kade Wallace 15 yards from the goal, then dribbled the ball all the way into the net.

“We knew that they would come out hard in the second half, and knew we had to withstand the pressure,” Eberhardt said. “We were able to do that, maintain our possession, and the game kind of opened up for us at the end.”

With a minute left, Truckee midfielder David Martinez poked a right-footed shot past South Tahoe backup goalkeeper Eduardo Martinez to make the score 4-1. David Martinez dictated play in the midfield for the Wolverines, and used his speed and array of footwork to give the Vikings’ defense fits.

“With his footwork, he can take on a whole team and pretty much go through them like we saw tonight,” Eberhardt said. “He can control it, and that’s good to have.”

In the midst of the second round of league play, Truckee is hitting its stride. On Monday night, the Wolverines displayed the speed, talent and tactics that make them the top team in the Northern Division I-A — and a state title contender.

“We’re playing really good soccer right now — it started two weeks ago,” Eberhardt said. “We got some key players back, so now we’re back at full strength and it’s kind of just clicking — we’re definitely starting to progress and get a little bit better with each game.

“It’s definitely fun to watch.”

Truckee boys dispatch Fallon

The Wolverines took care of their home field Saturday with a 3-1 win over Fallon.

The Greenwave came out with a defensive game plan as they stacked the Truckee box with defenders. It worked for the better part of the first half, until the Wolverines broke through for three goals in a four-minute span just before the break.

Arnstein scored the first goal off an assist from David Martinez in the 34th minute. Martinez scored about a minute later with a rocket shot from the top of the box, and Arnstein scored again in the 38th minute after bumping the ball twice to himself and kicking it into the goal before it hit the ground.

Fallon got on the board with a goal by Tristan Parrott in the 60th minute, while Truckee could not muster any more offense despite dominating possession.

“Their defense played hard,” Eberhardt said. “It’s kind of hard when they drop basically their entire team back. We were able to break it at the end of the first half, but we couldn’t quite break it in the second half.”

— Sun sports editor Sylas Wright contributed to this report.


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