SPSV’S SENIORS were honored before Monday’s 2-0 victory over Berean Christian. Picured are (back row from left) coach Mike Carvalho, Marquis Perrilliat, Patrick Basco, Musa Dejani, David Parks, Francis Cacacho, head coach Greg Coan; (kneeling from left) Ronuel Tan, John Cuevos, Anthony Nogoliza and Jamari Gammad.

Good news poured over the St. Patrick-St. Vincent High boys varsity soccer team on Monday.

The Bruins first learned that rival Pinole Valley, which started the day in first place in the Tri-County Athletic League, was forced to forfeit several games – including a pair to SPSV. Suddenly the Bruins were bumped up to the No. 4 seed for the upcoming TCAL playoffs and now get to host No. 5 seed Pinole Valley in the opening round Thursday night at Dante Magnani Field.

“It’s pretty exciting hosting a playoff game,” said SPSV head coach Greg Coan. “We’ll give it our best effort and you never know what can happen.”

The Bruins then went out on Senior Night and blanked visiting Berean Christian, 2-0, to wrap up the regular season. SPSV entered the day with three wins and doubled that with Monday’s shutout win and two forfeit victories. The Bruins go into the postseason 6-7-1 overall after not winning a game in nearly four years.

John Cuevos broke a scoreless tie with a goal 10 minutes into the second half and teammate Zack Richards added an insurance goal five minutes later. It was team-leading fifth goal of the year for Richards and the first goal of the season for Cuevos.

Coan had to leave the game early to attend Monday evening’s TCAL All-League meeting, where his son – SPSV midfielder Justin Coan – was named to the First Team and senior goalkeeper Marquis Perrilliat was named the Defensive Player of the Year.

“He was the first name out of everybody’s mouth,” Coan said of Perrilliat, who was named First Team All-TCAL for the first time. “I think a lot of people realized he was slighted last year and knew he had to be First Team goalkeeper this year.”

Richards was named to the Second Team while teammate David Parks was a Honorable Mention.

“It was an amazing night,” Coan said.

Now the Bruins turn to the postseason, which is uncharted territory for the entire roster.

“We’re just enjoying it and we’ll see what happens in the playoffs,” Perrilliat said. “I think we’re gonna catch teams off guard because we keep getting better and better.”

“We’ve been playing pretty well and we’ll be ready,” Cuevos added.

“I think the boys know it’s been a positive season and that these seniors have been involved in something transformative,” coach Coan said. “They had never won a game the entire time they’ve been here, and now we’ve had some success and there’s a little momentum in the right direction.”

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