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After Sonoma Valley High School's varsity soccer boys lost 7-2 to visiting Sonoma County League first-place Windsor on Sept. 25, they didn't fall apart, but regrouped, embraced their head coach Pedro Merino's and assistant coach Mike Linder's "positions-complementing-team" concept, and won five straight matches.

Now make that six straight wins with an emphasis on "impressive team play" after the Dragons dealt unbeaten Windsor, the Redwood Empire's No. 1 ranked team, its first loss of the season and pulled to within one game of the front-runners in the SCL title chase. The second-place Sonoma boys rode into Windsor last night and turned in a sterling performance that resulted in a sparkling 2-1 victory over the stunned Jaguars.

Dylan Howarth scored the first goal for the Dragons after collecting fellow senior Brian Clementino's deflected penalty kick and putting it into the net, and then Clementino tallied the match-deciding goal by alertly rebounding his stopped penalty kick and drilling the ball home. Also leading Sonoma's team win were seniors Joe Alexander-Short and Ruben Lopez, juniors Victor Robles and Ivan Chavez, and sophomores Johnny Medina and twins Connor and Rory Johnston.

"It was an excellent match between the No. 1 and No. 2 teams and we earned the big win," said Merino. "Our fullbacks were magnificent, our halfbacks maintained the middle of the field, and our forwards were very good in advancing the ball and attacking the goal. This was an outstanding team victory."

The Dragons - with a 15-5-1 overall record and 8-2-1 SCL mark - wrap up their regular season hosting Healdsburg tomorrow night, Wednesday, Oct. 28, under the Arnold Field lights, with Sonoma's first-place junior varsity boys starting at 5 and the varsity playing at 7 p.m. Before the match Sonoma will honor its 11 seniors.

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