PHOTO GALLERY (Vlad Frenkel)

SAN BRUNO — The San Francisco Glens finished their preseason schedule with a 4-1 victory over the visiting San Jose Earthquakes Under-19 team on Saturday at Skyline College.

The hosts assailed the net from the initial whistle, with Carlos Trujeque opening the scoring in the fifth minute thanks to a pinpoint pass from Marco Iubel.

Though the Quakes, led by Stanford-bound team captain Cameron Cilley, put forth a valiant effort in midfield to keep the ball out of the attacking third, the Glens would once again find a hole in the defense in the 19th minute, when Steve Cordova, the Man of the Match presented by Thomas Quinn, put away his second goal of the preseason.

“This year compared to last year, I think the coaching staff has had more time to pick and choose players that fit the kind of style we want to play here,” Cordova said. 

The game appeared to stabilize for the next 20 minutes, but Eruvey Arceta broke through for San Francisco and scored the Glens’ third goal in the 38th minute.

The Quakes pulled one back in the 42nd minute, drawing a foul in the box and subsequent penalty kick that was converted by Owen Varela.

Both sides went to their benches after halftime, and in the 81st minute, a pair of youth products connected, as striker Julio Gonzalez Ponce from Mission High School and the Glens’ partner club Bay City FC flicked a cross into the box for a streaking Eric Pearce, who was recently called up from the Glens’ 2001 Celtic Academy team. The midfielder from Lowell High School soared through the sky and headed home what would be the Carlsberg Play of the Game to end the scoring. 

Forward Declan O'Flynn, who started at age four with the Glens' first youth team in 2006 and is now on the 2002 Celtic Academy team, made his preseason debut with the USL League Two first team in the second half. O'Flynn currently attends Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep.

“We had good chemistry and capitalized on some of their mistakes in the first half,” said head coach Javier Ayala-Hil in the postgame Coach’s Corner presented by Rubica. “Overall it was a good result all around. So far so good, but the real game’s next weekend, so we’re excited for that match.”

The Glens open their 2019 regular season on the road at Kezar Stadium against crosstown rival SF City FC on Sunday at 6 p.m.

About San Francisco Glens Soccer Club

Founded in 1961 by the Irish-American community, the Glens have been a mainstay of the San Francisco soccer landscape for decades, winning a pair of local amateur titles in the historic San Francisco Soccer Football League (1979, 1993) and advancing to two National Amateur Cup finals (1979, 1990).

Today, the Glens are open to all and offer a complete club pyramid, with the addition of their USL League Two team in 2018 as the latest evidence of growth on their path to the professional ranks. Along with their youth club, SF Glens Evolution—a U.S. Soccer Development Academy member, USL Academy founding member, and the first club in The City to earn NPL Club status on the field—the Glens are the largest soccer club in San Francisco, providing all levels of competition to over 70 teams and 1,300 players from micro soccer all the way to the USL League Two team at the top of the pyramid.

To learn more about the San Francisco Glens, visit SFGlens.com and follow the club on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat—all using the handle @SFGlensSC.

About USL League Two

A part of the United Soccer League family which also operates the USL Championship, USL League One, and Super Y-League, USL League Two (formerly the PDL) has served as the proven stepping-stone for aspiring professionals.

Over 70 percent of all MLS SuperDraft selections since 2010 have USL League Two experience, including four from the Glens in 2019 (Sam Junqua, Roy Boateng, Shinya Kadono, and Sam Ebstein—the first San Francisco club to ever have that many picked. Among the many players to have played in USL League Two before making their professional debuts include Newcastle United FC defender DeAndre Yedlin, 2017 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Tim Melia, 2017 MLS Defender of the Year Ike Opara, 2018 MLS Rookie of the Year Corey Baird, and U.S. Men’s National Team members such as Darlington Nagbe, Brad Guzan, Geoff Cameron, Josh Sargent, and the Bay Area’s own Nick Lima.