A Tuesday, Jan. 9 game on the home pitch was a 4-1 loss for the Escalon varsity soccer boys against Hilmar.

“They scored two quick goals, within the first 10 minutes, and their third goal just before half,” coach Paul Silva said of the Yellowjackets. “We didn’t play the first half with enough focus and intensity that we needed to play with. Second half was much better in that regard, which was reflected in the score line.”

Raul Calderon scored for the Cougars and Silva said the team had a number of other chances to score but just couldn’t finish.

“Thursday was at Hughson, we lost 2-0,” the coach added.

There was no scoring in the first half; Hughson converted one goal on a penalty kick and took advantage of an Escalon defensive miscommunication to score their other goal in the second half to notch the win.

“Overall we played a much more complete game and had some great opportunities to score, but couldn’t find the back of the net,” Silva said.

The squad is slated to host Livingston in a match on Thursday, Jan. 18 at 3:30 p.m.

The JV Cougars opened the week with a big 5-0 shutout victory over Hilmar at home Tuesday.

Even so, it did not start out well, said coach Polo Rodriguez.

“We played a slow first half, got two goals but played a much better game in the second half and got three goals,” Rodriguez said.

Goals were scored by Ricardo Chavez, Ulises Castellanos, Yair Valerio and two from Alexavier Garcia, with one assist from Ivan Lopez.

“Thursday we played away at Hughson and tied 2-2,” Rodriguez added. “We were down 2-0 at half with some big mistakes on our defensive line.”

But two goals by the JV squad in the second half forged the tie.

“The boys really worked for this one and almost made the comeback; we got goals from Ivan Lopez and Co Northcutt,” Rodriguez said.