Cap soccer standing tall atop PAL Ocean

While the Mustangs have not qualified for the postseason since 2005-06, Rodriguez has his team poised to overcome the drought this season. Cap (5-0-1 PAL Ocean, 6-2-2 overall) is standing tall atop the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division standings, most recently powering to a 3-2 win Friday afternoon at third-place Westmoor to keep its unbeaten league record intact.

In the previous meeting between the two teams this season — a rain-soaked game on natural grass at Cap — the match ended in a 0-0 draw. This time around, the Mustangs didn’t wait around, scoring a pair of first-half goals before opening up a 3-0 advantage in the second half.

“We were looking at trying to score goals in the first half and just get it over with,” Cap junior midfielder Edgar Munoz said.

Munoz has been a valued assist man for the Mustangs but entered Friday’s game with no goals on the year. The junior changed that in the fifth minute with an impressive run, producing a steal at midfield and making a dash up the left sideline before veering into a scoring lane through the top corner of the box to sock in his first score of the season.

“I was looking for a pass to the side, but I saw there was no point passing it,” Munoz said. “So, I just cut in and decided to take it.”

The scoring run was a deceptively solo venture for a Cap team that can really control the ball. Passing tempo is a must in Rodriguez’s system, which relies on marking the opponent’s center defensive backs with attacking midfielders. So, seeing Munoz play the attack off the wing is nothing new. Usually, though, his play is to send it in for a connecting pass to create mismatches through the middle.

“A lot of rotation,” Rodriguez said. “It’s something we’ve been working on, is the ball movement, but more than that, stick to our system.”

Cap showed its ability to play the length of the field in the 11th minute. After winning possession in the back rank off a Westmoor corner kick, Munoz booted a long pass upfield for Enrique Santamaria. This time Santamaria streaked up the sideline, and he found Charlie Chetcuti open through the middle for a sharp cross, but Chetcuti was a tad too eager and got whistled for an offside violation.

In the 22nd minute, though, the Mustangs produced another good chance and did not miss it. This time, a booming goalkeeper kick to midfield saw Cap win the possession, with David Garcia taking an outlet on the wing and moved up the sideline. Garcia then connected on a cross to Santamaria, who scored to double the lead at 2-0, which Cap took into halftime.

Westmoor, though, refused to go quietly.

The Rams (2-2-3, 4-4-5) are on the playoff bubble in the Central Coast Section, and they know it. Last year Westmoor reached the CCS Division II tournament as a third-place team. With head coach Omar Rashid estimating the team needs to earn 12 points — approximately four wins, or a combination of victories and ties — over the final three weeks of the regular season, lighting a fire under his senior-heavy roster during the halftime break was an easy task.

“At the half they honestly believed they were going to tie it, and come back and win,” Rashid said.

Rashid pointed to a game from the 2016-17 season in which Westmoor trailed Sequoia 4-1 inside the final 10 minutes. The Rams rallied that Jan. 27, 2017 afternoon for four goals in the final six minutes to win 5-4.

Cap was more than happy to oblige a three-goal handicap, adding its final score on the day in the 42nd minute. The Mustangs drew a foul entering the box, giving Jose Chavolla a penalty kick. And Cap’s leader in goals this season converted his seventh on the year to boost the lead to 3-0.

Westmoor turned up the intensity from there. The Rams’ best chance of the game, to that point, in the 48th minute saw a corner kick connect precisely for an attack header that flew just over the crossbar. Five minutes later, Westmoor got on the board.

Senior forward Shaker Mahdee scored in the 53rd minute on an assist from senior Luis Aguilar. Then in the 67th minute, the Mustangs got another one back. Aguilar — the Rams’ scoring leader this season with eight league goals, and 13 overall — had a shot deflected by the Cap keeper, but it bounded right to the foot of sophomore Melvin Oliva, who didn’t waste any time and peppered in a score to cut the deficit to 3-2.

While Cap defensive middle back Jeovani Worthy had to sit out the second half after suffering a head-to-head collision just before halftime — he was up and walking around later in the game, and said he felt OK — defensive backs Aristotle Lampios and Diego Alvarado stepped up in the late going to thwart an onslaught of Westmoor attacks.

“We created a lot of opportunities,” Rashid said. “The team that came out in the second half was one with heart and passion.”