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Bloom blanks Posada, Crete-Monee
Updated: September 27, 2011 9:36PM
The Carlos Posada watch is on hold.
The Crete-Monee star, who needs 10 goals to set a state record, was blanked with the rest of the Warriors as host Bloom stole the 1-0 victory on forward Osvaldo Sanchez’s unassisted score with 11:30 remaining.
Sanchez took advantage of a misplayed Crete-Monee pass in the Warriors’ end. After recovering the loose ball, Sanchez dribbled left and drilled a lofting shot from about 18 yards that curled into the left corner of the net.
“At first I didn’t think I’d get to the ball or make a shot,” Sanchez said. “But it there and I got the shot off.”
The victory reversed a dominant result earlier in the season when Crete-Monee blanked Bloom 4-0.
“We weren’t as ready to play them then as we were today,” Sanchez said. “It’s a great feeling to know we can play with them.”
Bloom (11-3-3, 5-1 Southland) was the more aggressive team, controlling most of the possessions.
“Crete-Monee is a very good team all the way around,” Bloom coach Kelly Gutierrez said. “Our players were a little dumbfounded the first time we played how dominant Crete was. During the first game we had some players in different positions. We’ve made the changes and the we did a good job of making adjustments, especially defensively to what they wanted to do.”
Posada has 41 goals on the year, and entered the Bloom game averaging nearly three per game.
“I don’t think we played as well as a team today as we have the rest of the year,” Posada said. “They got the nice goal late.”
He said feeling the intensified pressure because of the attention surrounding the all-time scoring mark.
“There’s a lot of pressure on me, every game, to score, but I’m used to it now,” he said. “It’s just something I have to deal with.”
Crete-Monee (12-2-2, 5-1) managed just two shots on goal. The Warriors’ best scoring opportunity came with just over six minutes to play when Posada, off a free kick, hit a through ball that teammate Ryan Sadowski hit a clean header that hit off the top post.
“The way the game was going, I felt the first team to make a mistake was going to lose, and that’s exactly what happened,” Crete-Monee coach Julian Lagunas said. “We made some bad decisions, especially with the ball there at the end.”
Bloom also enjoyed a rare instance of inside knowledge. “Our secret weapon,” in the words of Gutierrez. Junior midfielder Jorge Garcia is the first cousin of Posada. Garcia enjoys a 3-1 advantage against Posada and the Warriors.
“The thing about Carlos is, it doesn’t matter who’s in front of him, if he sees the ball, he’s going to get to it in order to score,” Garcia said.
“We’ve been playing a long time, together in club and now against each other, and once we get on the field, it’s not about family, it’s a rivalry. I knew if we did the things we’re supposed to do as a team, we’d be able to stop him.
“He’s a great player, but he’s stoppable,” Garcia said.
At least for a day.
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