Explosive Harbor overcomes early deficit, tops Santa Cruz

Harbor High’s Alex Aparicio works the ball toward the Santa Cruz goal during the teams’ SCCAL soccer match on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Harbor High’s Alex Aparicio works the ball toward the Santa Cruz goal during the teams’ SCCAL soccer match on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)Expand

The heavily bundled Vahradian was a proud, smiling coach at the end of the 80-minute match, as were Pirates fans, who braved chilly conditions. The temperature dip into the low 40s.Aparicio-Hernandez followed up a rebound off of a defender on a corner kick from Calles in the 62nd minute. One minute later, Harbor was back on the attack and Camberos-Garcia finished off a cross from Diego Cortez.

“If we get all our fundamentals down, I think we can make it far in CCS (Central Coast Section playoffs),” said Harbor forward Daniel Camberos-Garcia. “The nerves were pretty high, especially since we got down 1-0 in the first 10 minutes. We just needed the energy, to bring that back up and come back from it.”Santa Cruz High’s Chase Janney competes with for a header with Harbor’s Alex Aparicio during the teams’ SCCAL soccer match on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)The Pirates, who hoped to KO their opponent early, weren’t done swinging. They struck again in the 38th minute, after Aparicio-Hernandez juked his way through three defenders on the right side of the penalty box and sent a cross to Camberos-Garcia.Santa Cruz High’s Chase Janney competes with for a header with Harbor’s Alex Aparicio during the teams’ SCCAL soccer match on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)His Pirates performed that trifecta in a dominant effort against crosstown foe Santa Cruz and emerged with a 4-1 win over the visiting Cardinals in Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League action on Wednesday.“For me, the win is always the reward for the players,” Vahradian said. “I think for me, as a coach, all I really want to see is them just go out and work. And we can be at peace, even if we lose, knowing the guys worked their absolute best and worked as hard as they could. And usually when they do that, we’re competitive in games.”

Harbor tacked on two more goals, one minute apart, with roughly 18 minutes remaining.When: Friday, 7 p.m.“I think the big thing for us was just energy,” Vahradian said. “After coming through some difficult times this last week, just two really hard games against Soquel and Aptos, we needed to find our identity again: a team that goes out and presses hard, runs, and looks to connect passes, do all those things we’ve been working on.”Harbor High’s Sai Nyguen, left, and Jair Martinez collaborate on defense to challenge Santa Cruz’s Cutler Bauscher during the teams’ SCCAL soccer match on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)SANTA CRUZ — Harbor High boys soccer coach Michael Vahradian preaches to his players that effort, energy, and teamwork take precedence over the outcome in any match. If they play with those three things, he’s a happy man.The Pirates responded with four unanswered goals, two in each half.Calles ran to the a corner flag and punched it in jubilation.Vahradian was happy the Pirates showed signs of returning to their style of play after enduring a rough last week. They were assessed eight yellow cards in an ugly, 3-2 win over Soquel last Wednesday, and saw their 11-match win streak come to an end with a 3-1 loss to Aptos on Friday.

THE SCORE

Harbor knotted the score at 1-all in the 34th minute, after Cesar Onesto sent a long pass up the right touchline. Alex Aparicio-Hernandez caught up to the ball and crossed the ball to Javi Calles on the far post for the finish.1 of 10Santa Cruz High players celebrate following the first half goal by Cutler Bauscher (10) during the teams’ SCCAL soccer match on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)Santa Cruz High players celebrate following the first half goal by Cutler Bauscher (10) during the teams’ SCCAL soccer match on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)