Luke Dennison got the first start of his Academy career in Saturday’s match against Arsenal F/C and he did not disappoint. The senior at Pinole Valley High School made the most of his opportunity as he shut out Arsenal in a 0-0 draw.
Dennison, the former Defensive MVP of the Tri-County Athletic League, is in his first year with the Quakes and took full advantage of his first start while spelling JT Marcinkowski. The match saw a lot of back-and-forth play as well as five substitutions for each side, but Dennison was as dependable as could be in the net, turning away every shot he faced.
The 18s faced off with Real So Cal on Sunday and dropped a 6-3 decision.
Thanks to a Cylus Sandoval goal in the 6th minute, the Quakes jumped out to an early lead. Jorge Jimenez of Real So Cal scored his first of two goals in the 13th minute to knot the match at 1-1. Dalton Pando tallied his first goal of the season in the 28th minute sending the Quakes into the half with a 2-1 advantage.
The second half was all So Cal as they found the back of the net five times after the break. So Cal scored four times in an eight-minute stretch, sandwiching a Juan Velasquez goal in the 75th, on the way to their second victory of the season. The goal for Velasquez was the 10th of his Quakes career.
San Jose will head into a bye week before traveling north to take on tough division rivals Portland and Seattle on Oct. 5th and 6th. The Quakes will look to repeat the results of last year’s trip to the Pacific Northwest, when they swept a weekend in early May, 3-0 vs Portland and 3-1 against Seattle. Overall last season, San Jose was 2-0 against the Timbers and split the matches with the Sounders.
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Saturday afternoon the 16s battled Arsenal in a tough, 1-0 defeat, Eduardo Solarzano was solid in net. but let one late shot get past him for the deciding goal. After a scoreless first half, the intensity picked up but the Quakes were unable to break through against the stingy Arsenal defense. Evan Sungvornrajasabh slid a shot past Solarzano in the 74th minute for the lone tally.
Not to be deterred by Saturday’s result, the Quakes took the pitch Sunday against Real So Cal and used a dominant second half to win 3-0. Goalkeeper Remi Prieur was flawless on the day and, finally, in the 51st minute, Yousef Diyab was able to get him the lead. Diyab’s 2nd goal of the season broke the seal, and seasoned veterans Phillip Hausen and Jonathan Partida contributed goals after that.
The 16s will try to build off Sunday’s victory as they hit the road after the bye week to take on a pair of teams that got the better of them last year. In the combined four matches against Portland and Seattle, the Quakes were only able to muster a single goal, which came in a mid-November draw against the Sounders.
- Richter Media
