M-A stays unbeaten, nears title

But at this point, the Bears might have to go unbeaten if they are to win the Peninsula Athletic League’s Bay Division championship.

“We’re 17 games into a 19-game schedule and we haven’t lost,” said M-A head coach Brian Mansell. “And we still might not win the league title.”

M-A (6-0-2 PAL Bay, 20 points; 13-0-4 overall) took one more step toward both goals as the Bears scored three times in the first half to take control of their match with the Scots.

The game was essentially an elimination game for Carlmont (5-3, 15 points; 8-6-1), which entered Friday’s match two points behind the division-leading Bears. And for the first 10, 15 minutes, the Scots were on the front foot, winning a number of balls in the air and were winning challenges.

But it wasn’t translating into a much offense and it wasn’t long before the Bears got locked into the match. In the 15th minute, M-A’s Yandel Hernandez was taken down hard for a Bears’ free kick 45 yards from goal. Hernandez sent a ball into the penalty box that was headed on goal by Nolan Kanevsky, who seemed to have perfect placement to the far right corner.

But Carlmont goalkeeper Jamie Elliott — a JV call-up with the Scots’ starter and backup not available — came up with a big save, diving to his left and pawing the shot away.

That near miss seemed to fire up the M-A offense and that meant striker Nathan Thurlow started to heat up. Thurlow ended up netting a hat trick, with the first two coming within minutes of each other in the first half.

After another couple near-misses, the Bears got on the scoreboard in the 24th minute. Right back Frank Aguilar jumped up into the attack, carrying the ball to the top right corner of the penalty box before putting a shot on goal.

Elliott was there, once again, to knock the ball away, but the rebound fell right to Thurlow, who poked it home for a 1-0 lead.

“We started to play a little better,” Mansell said. “We’ve scored first in every game. We’ve never even been behind (this season).”

In the 30th minute, Thurlow’s pressure forced the Carlmont defense into a mistake and he pounced. A ball was sent diagonal toward the right sideline and the Scots’ defender seemed to have the ball in his sights.

But as he went to trap the ball it went right under his foot and Thurlow went around him and was in on goal. He carried the ball to the top of the penalty box before slamming on the brakes, spinning around to get the ball on his right foot and, as he slipped, put a shot of goal that was perfectly placed for a 2-0 lead.

And the Bears weren’t done. Just before the halftime whistle, M-A struck again for a 3-0 lead at the break. The buildup to the third goal was a beautiful combination. Thurlow initiated the combination with a diagonal ball to Hernandez along the right sideline.

With Aguilar on an overlap, Hernandez used a cheeky backheel down the line that found Aguilar in stride. He sent a cross to the left post, but couldn’t connect with a teammate.

Carlmont, however, failed to clear the ball out of danger and, after a scramble in the box, the ball popped out to Mateo Sosnik about 12 yards from goal, who hammered a shot into the back of the net for the three-goal lead.

To that point, M-A had only conceded eight goals on the season and had not given up more than one in any game.

“Once we scored a couple goals, we felt pretty confident,” Mansell said.

The Bears pushed their lead to 4-0 in the 64th minute as Thurlow completed his hat trick and, once again, Aguilar and Hernandez were instrumental. This time, Aguilar took the ball out of the back and carried it into the attack. He slotted a through ball to Hernandez, who threaded the ball through the defensive line, to a streaking Thurlow, who broke in on goal alone and beat the goalie to the left corner.

The M-A defense, meanwhile, was completely shutting down the Carlmont attack, which was reduced to relying on long throw-ins from Noah Franklin. From 30 yards and in, Franklin’s throw-ins were essentially corner kicks.

“They play for the throw-ins, so that’s what we prepared for,” Mansell said.

And for the first six times, the Scots came up empty. But in the 76th minute, they finally took advantage. Franklin put a thr0w-in into the M-A penalty box and, after a scramble, Hayden Kupbens finally found some space and put the ball in the net.

The Scots had two more throw-in attacks, but the Bears handled those.

The loss all but eliminates Carlmont from title contention. M-A, however, still has some work to do. They need to avoid a loss in their final two games — including another first-place showdown against second-place Aragon, a team M-A beat 3-0 Jan. 24.

“Aragon will be a tough game. … We can lose to Aragon and not win league,” Mansell said. “We talked about that (finishing unbeaten). You don’t want to [mess] that up now.”