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Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009

Murillo, Merced -- soccer champions again

TURLOCK -- The math was simple for Bart McAfee and his Merced boys soccer team: Win and you're the champions.

But on a wind-blown Wednesday at the Turlock Soccer Complex, against the conference's last-place team, nothing was going to come easy for Merced.

Fortunately, the reigning Sac-Joaquin Section Division I champs needed only a few moments of brilliance to capture their second straight Central California Conference title.

Octavio Murillo scored the go-ahead goal just before the half and Cristian Alvarez finished with two assists in a 2-0 victory over Pitman on the regular season's final day.

Freddy Hernandez also found the back of the net for Merced, which finished 9-0-3 in conference play and is 19-1-4 in two years.

The team celebrated the victory by showering McAfee and its captain, senior midfielder Hector Berber, with water.

"This one means a lot," Murillo said. "We wanted to do it back to back, because it's hard to do. We wanted to go undefeated.

"This one was harder than the last. All the games were harder, closer. We tied three times. It was tough. We had to wait until the end to be champions."

Murillo, the reigning CCC MVP, was the hero for the second straight game.

His timing was impeccable, too.

He collected a pass from Alvarez near the top of the Pitman 18-yard box. With a quick touch and turn, he fired a chest-high shot past Pitman goalie Jose Contreras (six saves) with about 20 seconds left in the half.

It was Murillo's fourth goal in two games.

"I'm getting into a rhythm. It was hard early on because I was always man-marked," Murillo said. "But now I'm finding my rhythm. I'm starting to score."

Merced made it 2-0 in the 55th minute. Alvarez slipped a through ball to Hernandez on the left side. Hernandez cut the ball back to his right foot and curled a shot inside the far post.

Goalie Andrew Jaurique earned the clean sheet with four saves.

"That was big -- really big," McAfee said of Murillo's go-ahead goal. "Whether we've scored or we haven't scored, I've trusted these guys. Today they did what they needed to do.

"When Octavio scored that goal it gave us a sense of relief. We knew we had to win in order to win the championship. We were under some pressure, trying to shoot and trying to shoot.

"That goal put us at ease."

It also gave Merced (16-3-4) the conference's top playoff seed and home-field advantage through the first two rounds of the Division I tournament.

Merced will open on Friday, Nov. 6, against the Modesto Metro Conference runnerup, which will be determined today.

Downey can clinch a playoff berth with a victory over Beyer. If Beyer springs the upset, Johansen can clinch with a victory over MMC champ Modesto.

Golden Valley (15-2-2), the CCC's No. 2 seed, will travel to the Tri-City Athletic League champion, which finishes league play tonight.

Stockton Edison, Stagg or Tokay are all vying for the TCAL's top playoff seed.

"I think it's a good draw for us. It could definitely be worse," Golden Valley coach Lee Shaw said. "We're a No. 2 seed going in, but we had a strong league. The section champs come from our league, so that's obvious.

"We'll switch from league mode to knockout-soccer mode. There's some differences for tournament soccer that we'll need to ingrain in our minds."

James Burns is sports editor of the Sun-Star. He can be reached at jburns@mercedsun-star.com.