A top 2A conference battle in varsity soccer Monday night saw Union (7-8) defeat Hobbton (8-6) 4-0 on the Spartans’ home turf.
After 12 minutes without a score, Union’s Kevin Luna broke open the deadlock with a goal. It didn’t take long for the Spartans to double the lead, as Jose Mejia Gonzalez shot the ball into the bottom corner off of an assist made by Luna. Hobbton goalkeeper Javier Escalera made a crucial save near the back end of the first half to deny Gonzalez from making it 3-0. On offense, the best goal-scoring opportunity for the Wildcats came with 11 minutes left, when senior forward Anthony Diaz fired a shot near the top corner of the goal, but the shot was collected by Union’s goalie.
In the second half, the Spartans continued to apply pressure. A shot from Gonzalez missed the Hobbton goal by just inches. But moments later, Luna was able to cash the next chance in to help Union take a commanding 3-0 lead. With 16 minutes left in the game, Axel Bonilla, who had subbed in two minutes prior, gave the Spartans their final goal to improve their conference record to 6-0.
“I think we had some chemistry going into the game, and that really set the tone for the game,” Union head coach Evert Cruz said post-game. “I think we had confidence tonight; we knew we could play well, but we didn’t know that we were going to be able to put it together. That’s been the struggle for our season. Sometimes we’re having an off night, and sometimes we play together. Tonight was one of those nights that went our way.”
The win over Hobbton created a two-game gap between the Spartans and East Bladen for first and second place (despite Hobbton’s 5-1 win over East Bladen on Sept. 9, the Wildcats sit in third)
“We’re very happy to get this win; it could have really gone either way,” Cruz expressed. “Because Hobbton is a great program. I think we really had to work hard in order to be able to play like we played tonight. Every time we play them, it’s always very tough. They’recompetitive,e and they’ve been like that for a while now. They’re still a top team. I feel like the players stepped up and they reached one of their goals tonight.”
After starting the season 0-7, Union has won seven of their last eight games, the only loss occurring against Clinton (11-1-1) 10-2 on Sept. 19. As it stands, the Spartans are 6-0 in conference play.
“We’re taking it game-by-game,” Cruz answered regarding the undefeated conference streak. “We’re in no position to say that we want to be an undefeated team due to us still trying to work out our flaws. We’re going to take it one game at a time, talk to the guys, and hopefully we can live up to that game and go from there. Any team would like to have a perfect record, but there’s no way that I can think about that or say that I’ll be in that position. Every team is out to get us now. They want to win, so we’re going to work just as hard or even harder to stay in our position.”
The Spartans suit up today at home against West Columbus at 6 p.m. Hobbton will look to rebound on the road today against Lakewood (10-5) in a rematch from their last game on Sept. 8