TUSTIN – Two years ago, Saddleback coach Mel Silva said a group club players “basically destroyed” his boys soccer team, intimidating some talented sophomores such as Brady Carbajal and Jorge Chavarria.
“The club players didn’t come to play. They were looking for some way to stay in shape for club, and for the first time in 26 years, we didn’t make the playoffs,” Silva said. “But last year Brady and Jorge woke up and started to take control of the team.”
And the Roadrunners were back in the postseason. A return trip seems likely again this coming season, too, if Carbajal and Charavrria can maintain the form they showed on Tuesday.
Both players knocked in a goal in the Roadrunners’ 3-0 victory against Century, which kept them in a tie for first place with Santa Ana in the Foothill Summer League.
“They (Carbajal and Chavarria) get it now,” Silva said, “and I have been able to move some pieces around, and that has really stabilized things.”
Carbajal (4-0) scored Saddleback’s first goal in the closing seconds of the first half after Armando Grayton delivered a perfect 25-yard pass to the far post where Carbajal was waiting to nod the ball into the left side of the goal.
Glen De La Vega extended the Roadrunners’ lead in the 39th minute with his highlight-reel-worthy goal. Standing at the touchline some 20 yards away from the goal, De La Vega sent a high, arcing shot curling toward the near post. The ball just made it under the crossbar and hit the left side of the net. Nine minutes later, Charvarria set the final margin for Saddleback (4-0).
“In my system you can’t stand around, and if you aren’t pulling your weight, you are going to stick out like a sore thumb,” Silva said. “And these guys are settling in now. It has been good.”
