Boys soccer: Host San Rafael wraps up invitational with battle against Ukiah

The coaching staff of the San Rafael High boys soccer program wrapped up a busy three days by hosting Ukiah to close out the first Mission City Invitational on Saturday night.

The goal was to host a three-day tournament filled with competitive, high-level soccer and the players on the field delivered with a game that wasn’t decided until the final whistle.

San Rafael’s Elmer Aguilar and Brayan Reyes scored goals and the Bulldogs (2-3-1) made a strong second-half push in an eventual 3-2 loss against Ukiah.

“That’s the beauty of it, that we both came out here and tried to compete and make it a good game for each other,” San Rafael coach Edgar Hernandez said.

San Rafael and Ukiah met in last year’s North Coast Section Division III semifinals – a game Ukiah won 3-0 en route to the section title. Saturday’s game had the feel of a semifinal as the Bulldogs ratcheted up the intensity, pressing Ukiah all over the field and moving the ball around quickly on offense to try to climb back into the game after trailing 3-1 at the break.

“We were trying to figure out their press, how we could build and do our things playing against a really good team,” Hernandez said. “So in the beginning it was a little shaky. Nerves were high. It felt like a NCS semifinal in December so we were trying to figure out how to work around it. In the second half, the confidence was a little better but then our roles changed a bit. We switched formations. We managed to figure out their press a little bit better which allowed us to play a little more, keep the ball a little more and, in some ways, try to create from the back.”

The Wildcats gave the Bulldogs fits in the first half with their strength, speed, and the ferocity of their press, grabbing a 2-0 lead inside the first 16 minutes.

San Rafael got on the board in the 30th minute when Daniel Rodas played a through ball to Aguilar, who got behind the defense, beat the goalie to the ball then ran it down just in time to turn it into the back of the net and carve the deficit to 2-1.

“We’ve been trying to work on a couple things and tactically, getting these guys into more dangerous situations,” Hernandez said. “Elmer is very technical (one on one), well rounded in that sense, but he’s not in dangerous positions all the time. So in this situation, we were able to find him in a really good spot where (one on one) technically he beats the keeper then he plays in. Then the momentum changes and we feel like we have a chance. We start battling again.”

Reyes’ goal came following a long free kick taken by midfielder Edwin Perez, who served a dangerous ball into the 18-yard box. San Rafael’s initial shot hit off the post but Reyes was there to pounce on the rebound and pull San Rafael within 3-2 in the 74th minute.

The one-goal margin meant that nine of the 11 games at the tournament went down to the wire. The other two were decided by two goals. The four MCAL teams – Archie Williams, Redwood, San Rafael, and Terra Linda – combined to go 1-4-3 with the Peregrine Falcons securing the lone win, 3-2 against Sonoma Valley on Friday. Montgomery, McClatchy, Everett Alvarez, Newark Memorial, Richmond, and Granada were the other teams in the field.

“I feel like we got the right opponents here in terms of what was on the field ,” San Rafael assistant coach Jeremie Brunet said. “They were all really good games.”

The idea for the Mission City Invitational was something San Rafael assistant coach and former athletic director Jose De La Rosa had wanted to do for many years. The vision to bring a high-level soccer invitational to San Rafael High was made a reality this weekend.

“We have such a great community here at San Rafael High and so many people are involved in the process of helping us with the soccer team – from the girls program to the community to America Scores to our other sponsors,” De La Rosa said. “A lot went into it and we’re thankful to have the support of the community, the parents, and the kids.”

De La Rosa and Brunet both expressed a desire to run it back and host another Mission City Invitational again next season.

“In the next couple of weeks we’ll figure out the strengths and weaknesses, things we can work on and things that went really well then we’ll figure out the viability of it,” Brunet said. “We can start working that out in January then come like the very last day of the NCS finals, that’s kind of the day you have to start sending invites out if we’re going to do it. So we’ll see. … If we do it again, we’ll start sending out messages in February or March.”

“I would love to do it again,” De La Rosa said. “I think we will. I’m 80-90% sure we’ll do it again and try to make it a tradition.”