Capo Valley Repeats as Summer League Champs

Kevin Baboiyan scored two second-half goals and Alex Cook made two assists to lead the Capistrano Valley boys' varsity soccer team to a 4-2 victory over Trabuco Hills on Friday, clinching the championship match of the Capo Valley Summer League tournament.

It was the second straight summer league title for the Cougars, who were the No. 3 seed following pool play and outscored their three opponents 14-3, to finish 8-2-1 in the tournament.

“Hopefully, it [bodes well for] this [winter] season,” said Cougars Coach Jason Sorrell, who took his team to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 finals during the regular season. “We’ve done really well in the second half of game. Nothing special in the huddles, so I don’t know.”

One player who seemed to enjoy the second half was Baboiyan. Despite being moved to left midfielder from forward for summer league, the senior finished second to Tony Ponce as the team’s leading scorer. The Cougars outscored opponents 33-14 in 11 matches this summer.

Baboiyan scored two goals against San Clemente in a 4-0 victory in the semifinals and two against the Mustangs—all in the second half.

“I took him out in the first half [because] he didn’t do well,” Sorrell said. “I yelled at him a bit and, in the second half, he came out on fire again.”

Playing at Capistrano Valley High, the Cougars took the lead six minutes into the match when Alex Velasquez beat Mustang goalie Stefan Ellis to the ball as he was coming out to the 18 and sent the ball over the goalkeeper. But Trabuco Hills tied the match six minutes later as Trevor Blazek headed a pass from Scott Clark and beat Cougar goalie Tony Chagolla.

In the second half, however, Cook sent a looping pass from the right corner to Baboiyan, who rifled a shot past goalie Chris Martinez. Five minutes later, Ponce took a pass from Velasquez and scored easily to give the Cougars a 3-1 advantage.

Baboiyan scored his second goal five minutes later on a rebound in front of the goal for a 4-1 Cougars lead.

“I don’t know what it is. I was just lucky to be in the right place at the right time,” said Baboiyan.

Trabuco Hills looked to have a good chance of getting back into the game with 25 minutes remaining when Cougars goalie Matt Bermudez, one of last year’s starters, was red-carded for retaliating against a Mustangs player following a hard hit on a loose ball. But the Mustangs could only muster three shots against Chagolla, who returned to the net, and one goal by Kyle Nguyen in the final minute.

Trabuco Hills, the No. 5 seed, finished as runner-up with a 7-4-0 record.

“Both teams played well,” said Kevin Otsuji, who recently resigned as the Mustangs' head coach and is now an assistant. “Our guys played with a lot of tenacity. We gook some chances for sure [after the red card], but we weren’t able to capitalize on it. Capo looks to be strong again this year. For Trabuco, we’re glad to be in the finals.”

Baboiyan said winning consecutive summer league titles is a good omen.

“It definitely feels good to win it for a second year,” he said. “We lost a lot of seniors from last year and people said we wouldn’t be any good this year. I think we proved everyone wrong.”