The Oakdale High School varsity boys soccer team has endured many obstacles this season. Poor air quality, illnesses, less-than-ideal field conditions and more still could not stop the Mustangs from reaching the postseason. With a win over Kimball on Thursday night, the Mustangs punched their ticket to the playoffs.

Oakdale had two Valley Oak League matches resulting in a 1-0-1 week. Their week began with calling up three players from the junior varsity program. Kevin Camelin, Ernesto Gonzalez and Luis Soto made it to the varsity roster. On Tuesday, Jan. 29 the Mustangs (5-7-2, 5-4-2) headed to Stockton to take on Weston Ranch (13-7-1, 8-1-1). The Cougars are in first place and new Mustang varsity player Camelin wasted little time making an impact. In the first half of the game Camelin scored the first goal in his varsity career on an assist from senior Dan Sturtevant. This was the only goal for Oakdale but it was enough as the two teams tied 1-1.

In the team’s home game on Thursday, Jan. 31 Oakdale scored three second half goals to lift them to a 3-1 victory over Kimball (5-12-3, 1-9-2). In the contest, the two teams battled to a 0-0 halftime score but both teams found an offensive pace in the second half. Sturtevant scored two goals and also dished out an assist to Dylan French in the Oakdale win. Newcomer Luis Soto had an assist in the win as well. Goalkeeper Daniel Dubiel had four saves against the Jags.

On Tuesday, Feb. 5 Oakdale completed their 2018-2019 regular season when they took on Central Catholic (3-12-0, 2-7-0). This contest took place following The Leader’s press time.

JUNIOR VARSITY

It was a rough two game stretch for the Oakdale JV boys. On Tuesday, Jan. 29 the boys tied Weston Ranch 0-0 and on Thursday Oakdale built up a 2-0 second half lead, but fell to visiting Kimball 3-2 in the final minutes of the game.