’Runners host Bishop in key boys soccer matchup

Rosamond stays unbeaten in High Desert League

ROSAMOND — The Rosamond boys soccer team finished with its first tie in High Desert League play on Thursday night.

The Roadrunners rallied for the tying goal with six minutes remaining in the match for a 1-1 tie with Bishop at Rosamond High School.

Rosamond (15-5-2, 9-0-1), the defending league champion, is still alone in first place, while Bishop (7-3-2, 7-1-2) is in second place with four matches remaining in the regular season.

“We should have won it, but it’s a tie and we’re still going to keep working hard and try to win the last couple of games that we have,” said Rosamond senior Arturo Reyes Carbajal, a second-year varsity player. “The first half, we were kind of sleepy. The second half, we picked it up. It’s not the result that we wanted, but we still got a point.

“We feel like this team is capable of winning the league. We’re going to keep trying to win.”

Carbajal chipped in a loose ball in front of the net from a touch by senior Sergio Segura-Zepeda, after a throw-in by senior Isaias Cibrian in the 74th minute, four minutes after Bishop had scored the first goal of the match.

“They worked hard,” Rosamond coach Miguel Guillen said. “They worked really hard. They showed chemistry. There’s fight in them. There’s passion. We just need to capitalize on the little things. We need to execute. We had ample opportunity and we didn’t score.

“However, we bounced back from it. They scored first. We didn’t fold. We didn’t give up. I’m proud of the team. We have work to do. This is a wakeup call. This is what the boys need. It’s better now than in playoffs. Playoffs is you win or you lose. If you tie, you go to PKs and it gets harder. Luckily, we have time to clean up, polish up last minute things and get ready for playoffs. We have two more weeks.”

Bishop sophomore Hector Ramirez scored the lone goal for the Broncos, from 10-yards out on a breakaway.

The late deficit lit a fire under the Roadrunners.

“We have high expectations. We have high standards and the team knows that,” Guillen said. “We’ll see that the team can do big things this year, championship. If they put in the work and have each other’s back, which they’ve been doing, and they capitalize. That’s what we’re working on. Things are looking better, a lot better.

“Big props to Bishop. They played their game. They played well. They scored first. They never folded. They kept working, so good job to Bishop and good luck to them in the playoffs.”

The Roadrunners were unable to capitalize on three corner kicks in the final minutes, as senior Jorge Balderas had a header saved and Cibrian had a header go wide left.

“I feel like we could have done better, but we did good,” Rosamond senior goalie Johnnathen Villamor said. “We put in the work. Our communication, for sure. We let in too many through balls, too many mistakes. Our touch was bad. It wasn’t there, but we can fix that.

“I don’t know how I feel. I feel like we could have taken it, but it happens. We’ll get them next time.”

Rosamond won the first meeting, 2-1 at Bishop on Dec. 20.

“We played well,” Bishop coach Dustin del Giudice said. “Rosamond and us always give each other a good game. A couple of unfortunate calls and different things. We always look forward to playing Rosamond. It’s our best competition in the league, by far.

“These boys will get them. Next year, right? These boys have been working really hard. They’ve been battling. We’re on the verge.”

Villamor made several saves in the net for the Roadrunners and a few of his defenders helped him by deflecting shots.

Bishop appeared to have a look at an open net in the 16th minute, but Villamor recovered and made a running deflection.

“I feel like I’m doing good,” Villamor said. “There’s little things I can work on, but I’ve still got a little bit of time. I can fix it.”

Rosamond sophomore Isaias Ponce had a shot from 10 yards go high off of a free kick by senior Jorge Balderas.

The Roadrunners closest opportunity came in the 58th minute, when senior Randy Figueroa hit the far post with a corner kick that sailed over Bishop junior goalie Chino Solorio, who made a leaping attempt. The ball hit the far post and bounced out onto the pitch.

Segura-Zepeda had a shot from five yards deflected on a loose ball in front of the net.

“We’ve just got to keep working,” Guillen said. “We can always learn something new and progress.”

Rosamond plays at Boron on Tuesday and will host third-place Mammoth on Feb. 4 in the second to last match of the regular season.

GIRLS SOCCER Bishop 4, Rosamond 1

Rosamond senior Alexy Finch scored the lone goal for the Roadrunners (9-11, 7-3) against first-place Bishop (133-1, 10-0).

Rosamond is battling for second place with defending league champion Mammoth.

“I think they played great,” Rosamond coach Mark Notterman said. “Obviously you never want to lose, right? You’re not happy to lose, but to play Bishop 4-1 is amazing. They’re dropping six, seven, eight, nine, 10 goals on people and to only give up four and I think we’re only the second team in league to score on them this year. I’ll take the small victories.”

It was only the second goal Bishop has given up in league play, outscoring its High Desert League opponents 70-2 in 10 matches.

“Rosamond is a great team, they really are,” Bishop coach Bill Dailey said. “They have some great players, coached by a great coach. We struggled today. We had a hard time and that’s attributed to their playing ability.”

Bishop junior JuliAnna Jackson had three goals for the Broncos, including the final goal in the 77th minute.

Bishop beat Rosamond 5-0 in the first meeting on Dec. 20 at Bishop. Bishop led 2-1 at halftime. Rosamond freshman Aliyah Finch had the assist on the Roadrunners’ goal and senior goalie Kylee Eubanks-Hemme had six saves in net.

“I think we’re playing great,” Notterman said. “I think this game is a good measuring stick to see what we’re going to do. I think we’ll be OK.”

Rosamond has four matches remaining in the regular season, starting with a match at Boron on Tuesday.