REEDLEY – On a chilly crisp evening, the warmth of perfection followed Immanuel varsity boys as they looked to remain undefeated against their non-conference foe, Strathmore.
Off to a 5-0 start, the Eagles appeared to be on their way to another confident victory. But in the final minute of the game, Spartan’s midfielder Diego Garcia found a way to break loose from his defender and swat in the shot that left Immanuel and Strathmore with a 1-1 tie at County Line Stadium on Dec. 17.
Garcia’s goal came as the Eagles defense started to collapse around him. When he juked past his defenders, he had a clear shot to the goal and took it. The Eagles’ goalie reached as far as he could for the ball, but it sailed just above his hands.
Before Garcia’s goal, the Spartans had been suffocated by the Eagles defense down near the box. On several occasions, Immanuel created a wall in and near the box that proved too impenetrable for Strathmore to break down.
But despite the near misses, Strathmore still kept attacking Immanuel. And all of a sudden, the Eagles, who controlled most of the tempo in the first half, had to adjust to a different scheme they’ve never encountered before.
“I thought they kind of played a weird formation,” said Immanuel head coach Jon Zulik. “I think the guy that caused trouble in the second half is number 10 (Garcia). He got on the ball and I felt like there was a bit of an issue with his playmaking.”
In the opening minutes of the first half, Immanuel’s Romauldo Quintal nailed in a shot that completely stunned the Spartans. After that goal, it felt like everything had been set up for another decisive Eagles’ victory.
In their last two games, the Eagles flew on the feet of Carter and Brayden Zulik by a combined score of 15-3. Carter combined for seven goals while Brayden combined for eight assists. Carter and Brayden, who are cousins, helped keep the tempo quick and ball movement impeccable.
But Carter simply couldn’t cash in on his numerous shot opportunities like he did against Minarets and Wonderful College Prep Academy (WCPA).
“He (Carter) gets us in good spots, and they go in sometimes, and they don’t some other times,” said Zulik. “We’ll continue to go to him. We need him.”
The Eagles, still being harassed by the Spartans, refused to be caged. They kept pushing the action. But when they had golden opportunities to score, Immanuel simply couldn’t deliver the goals like they previously did in the last two games.
“I thought the first half was fine, we did good things, we created chances, had possession, thought we fell asleep in the second half. I thought we had three or four chances to put the game away,” Zulk said.
Despite the second half letdown, Immanuel showed just how young and dangerous of a team they can be when everything is clicking. This program has only been in existence for a year and a half, and Zulik already has this club believing it is playoff caliber.
“We had three goals this year,” said Zulik. “Number one goal is to qualify for playoffs, our second goal was to hopefully put a good competition in to win a league championship for the first time, and then make a run in the playoffs.”
Immanuel hasn’t achieved those goals quite yet. But when they do, there’s no telling how far they’ll go.
