Jackets three-peat in own event
- Updated: March 22, 2015
Jimenez, second-half scoring spree leads Oxford in Yellow Jacket Invitational final
Oxford keeper Luis Jimenez (L) accepts the tournament’s Defensive MVP award from Yellow Jackets coach Dwight McDonald Saturday.
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
OXFORD — When Oxford soccer coach Dwight McDonald graduated an outstanding goalkeeper last spring he wondered what the Yellow Jackets were going to do on the last line of their defense going forward.
Then Luis Jimenez showed up on his doorstep and suddenly all was right with the Jackets’ soccer world again.
Jimenez has been virtually impenetrable for the Jackets this spring. He made several saves Saturday, some of the spectacular variety, to win Defensive MVP honors as Oxford defeated 10th-ranked Faith Christian 3-1 for its third straight Yellow Jacket Invitational title.
“We had nobody, we were starting fresh,” McDonald said. “He shows up on the doorstep and has been phenomenal. He transferred in and, I’m telling you, from the first time he tried out I knew he was going to be a really good player.
“All year long he has played MVP status. We’re strong defensively and he puts the icing on the cake.”
Jimenez, who transferred in from Cleburne County (which doesn’t offer soccer) for family considerations, gave up only two goals in three tournament matches. The only ball Faith got past him Saturday was a penalty kick by Josiah McDaniel with 7:33 to play after the Yellow Jackets (5-1-2) had built a 3-0 lead.
And even that shot finding the back of the net was no guarantee. Jimenez pushed aside two penalty kicks against Pell City when their area match went to that shootout a couple weeks ago.
“Their keeper was great today,” Faith coach Erik McDaniel said, looking a little like legendary NFL coach Hank Stram on the sideline Saturday in his fedora. “He made some amazing saves. He deserved to be Defensive MVP. He was fantastic.”
Jimenez credited the veteran defense in front of him for helping him succeed. At one point in the second half, shortly after Byron Lin scored the match’s first goal, the junior found himself out of position after a save leaving an empty net but Ivan Nieto denied Offensive MVP Tyler Johnson’s chance and cleared the ball away.
“We’ve got to work as a team because without my defense I don’t think I could’ve done a lot of saves,” Jimenez said. “I got their back, they’ve got my back.”
The Jackets scored their goals in a 15-minute stretch of the second half. Byron Lin broke a scoreless tie when he put a 35-yard free kick behind Faith keeper Caleb McCord five minutes into the half. Misael Reyes scored 10 minutes later and Ramiro Melendez redirected a header with 15:15 to play.
“Obviously if you get a quick goal that’s going to help the momentum, but, quite frankly, Oxford was hungry; they played great today,” McDaniel said. “Faith didn’t lose this game, Oxford won it; those are two different things. Oxford wanted it; they won every ball and played extremely well. And their key players played like key players.”
The biggest of them was Jimenez, who admits he’s rather small for a goalie.
The only reason he tried out for it after transferring in was because the Yellow Jackets didn’t really have one and he thought that’d be his best chance to get on the field. He said he’s going to play again next year, but not as the keeper, a suggestion that seemed to catch McDonald by surprise.
“We’ll talk about that later,” the coach said.
Yellow Jacket Invitational
Oxford 3, Faith Christian 1
Faith (7-1-0) 0 1 — 1
Oxford (5-1-2) 0 3 — 3
GOALS – F: Josiah McDaniel; O: Byron Lin, Misael Reyes, Ramiro Melendez.
Faith’s Tyler Johnson (L), the tournament’s Offensive MVP, makes a run with teammate Josiah McDaniel (10). On the cover, first-goal scorer Byron Lin (13) and goalie Luis Jimenez, the Defensive MVP, celebrate with teammates after leading Oxford to the Yellow Jacket Invitational championship.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login