BUTTE VALLEY — The frustration continues to build for the Butte College men’s soccer team, which remained without anything better than a loss through 13 games when it lost 5-2 to Shasta on Tuesday at Cowan Soccer Stadium.
Rodrigo Serrato and Daniel DeBrita scored for the Roadrunners (0-13, 0-5 Golden Valley Conference), but four first-half goals by the Knights (2-6-5, 2-1-2) made for an insurmountable deficit for a Butte outfit that has now been outscored 73-8 on the year — with the two goals Tuesday representing the Roadrunners’ season high.
“Same thing I’ve seen all year. Too many mistakes to overcome what occurs, and one of the problems is, in many ways, we don’t play what we train,” Butte coach Larry Nees said. “One of the reasons for it is many of these players are extremely inexperienced at a highly competitive level, and when you’re put under pressure, you revert back to old habits, or habits you might not even have, and we do that a lot.”
The Knights forced the issue for most of the match, with midfielder B.J. Romac often looking like the best player on the pitch as he controlled the tempo and possession for the visitors. Three good runs of play, facilitated by his heady movements in the center of the Shasta attack, resulted in scores for the Knights. Fulvio Ferreira and Edgar Lupercio struck first ahead of one from Romac himself; one final score right before halftime, a leaping header by Caleb Ikwuagwu, made it 4-0 at the break. The Roadrunners weren’t exactly without bite, actually outscoring the Knights in the second half — the first time they’ve done that all season — but they repeatedly wasted opportunities to break through with an extra touch or four, and Shasta was never under any duress.
Jose Luquin cleaned up a rebound off the crossbar in the second half to round out the Knights’ scoring.
“We came out fairly strong, I thought, but I don’t think we played as well as we can,” Shasta coach Daniel Valdivia said. “Not to take anything from Butte, but we need to play a little better.”
With the staggering amount of problems Butte had in the defensive midfield leading to numerous breakaway opportunities (Ikwuagwu should have had another right before halftime, but his slow-rolling, goal-bound strike was kicked off the line by a Butte defender), the offensive inconsistency was magnified.
“The frustration is that soccer’s a game played by 10 individuals. You play in small groups, and we have individuals that put pressure on themselves to do too much,” Nees said. “Until you can control your brain to calm yourself to make good decisions, that’s where the struggle is. That’s what we have here. We’re not making good decisions.”
Valdivia said he felt for the rival Roadrunners, what with Shasta experiencing similar woes a season ago.
“They played well in the second half and really stepped up and I think that’s where we didn’t play our best,” he said. “I’m pleased with the result, just not thrilled with the level of play.”
Connect with Sports Writer Travis Souders at twitter.com/TravisSouders.
