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RHS soccer team posts 2-0-1 in home matches
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Playing three home matches in a row, Riverbank High School soccer players won two with ease and tied a third in pre-Labor Day play.

The Bruins defeated Summerville, 8-4, on Tuesday, shut out Denair 11-0 on Thursday, and tied Turlock Christian at 2-2 on Friday.

Bruin coach Martin Gonzales said he welcomed the tougher match against Turlock Christian to prepare the boys for this Wednesday's match against Gustine and the opening of the league slate against Patterson on Thursday.

Riverbank's Jesus Yepez scored four goals against Summerville. Other scorers were Lisandro Reyes, with two goals, and Jose Figueroa and Victor Figueroa, with one goal each.

Edgar Moya, Francisco De Los Santos and Ray Garnica contributed the assists.

Riverbank was leading, 4-1, at halftime and having little problem scoring, although the Summerville boys, to their credit, never gave up.

Pedro Ruiz, playing goalie for Riverbank, pulled in seven saves.

The match against Denair proved easier still for Riverbank, which scored eight goals in the first half.

"We were holding back so much in the second half, I pulled two players off the field so we were playing with only nine," said coach Gonzales. "I wasn't trying to disrespect Denair, just make a more even game."

Arturo Albor, playing in goal, for the Bruins, made two saves.

Yepez again netted three goals. So did Reyes, while Moya scored two. Contributing one goal each were Daniel Vasquez, Nelson Munguia and Jose Figueroa.

Reyes and Yepez twice made passes which led to a goal. Leo Valdez, Jose Figueroa, Vasquez, Munguia and Moya also contributed assists.

Coming up against Turlock Christian on Friday, the Bruins faced a much tougher proposition, although they cane close to breaking the tie for a win in the final moments.

"They had a couple of state-ranked players on the Turlock Christian team and were very big," said Gonzales. "They used their size to push us off the ball many times."

Riverbank scored first as Yepez received a nice pass from Figueroa and tapped it into the net.

With the score 1-0 in the second half, Turlock fouled Yepez in the box. He was awarded a penalty kick, but perhaps shaken by his fall, missed the goal, which is unusual for Yepez, said his coach.

Turlock came charging back, scored one goal and then another to take a 2-1 lead.

Gonzales shuffled his players, and five minutes later Yepez took a pass, dribbled past a defender and drilled a shot into the Turlock net in the upper right corner.

With the score tied and a few minutes left on the clock, Munguia got past two defenders. He stumbled over a third defender, but the goalie came out late and Munguia loosed a shot, which went high by a mere couple of inches.

"I was proud of the boys. Given a few more minutes, we could have won," said Gonzales.