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Aberdeen settles in to ground Elma

Published 1:30 am Friday, March 13, 2026

By Ryan Sparks

PHOTO BY FOREST WORGUM Aberdeen’s Gibran Garcia (8) celebrates a goal with teammate Yoanis Chignesse during the second half of the Bobcats’ 3-1 win over Elma on Thursday in Aberdeen.
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PHOTO BY FOREST WORGUM Aberdeen’s Gibran Garcia (8) celebrates a goal with teammate Yoanis Chignesse during the second half of the Bobcats’ 3-1 win over Elma on Thursday in Aberdeen.

PHOTO BY FOREST WORGUM Aberdeen’s Gibran Garcia (8) celebrates a goal with teammate Yoanis Chignesse during the second half of the Bobcats’ 3-1 win over Elma on Thursday in Aberdeen.
PHOTO BY FOREST WORGUM Aberdeen’s Gonzalo Barriors (left) defends against Elma’s Luis Torres during the Bobcats’ 3-1 victory on Thursday at Stewart Field in Aberdeen.
PHOTO BY FOREST WORGUM Elma’s Ian Ahlquist (left) is pursued by Aberdeen’s Angel Corona during the Bobcats’ 3-1 win on Thursday at Stewart Field in Aberdeen.
PHOTO BY FOREST WORGUM Elma’s Manny Venegas (left) gets a high-five from teammate Bryan Torres after scoring a goal during a 3-1 loss to Aberdeen on Thursday in Aberdeen.

ABERDEEN–Aberdeen settled in to earn a 3-1 comeback victory over Elma in a season-opening game on Thursday at Stewart Field.

The Bobcats (1-0 overall) had their chances over the first 10 minutes of the match, most notably when senior forward Yoanis Chignesse’s header was blocked by Elma goal keeper Trey Yeager.

The Eagles (0-1) would take a 1-0 lead when Manny Venegas worked his way through a stationary defense to pounce on a rebound and score in the 13th minute.

Aberdeen wasted little time in responding when forward Gonzalo Barriors took a feed from Chris Lopez, beat a couple of Eagles defenders and scored the equalizer.

Still tied at the halftime break, Aberdeen took its first lead of the game when a corner kic by Ricky Granados was headed in by Gibran Garcia in the 50th minute.

The Bobcats continued to pepper the Eagles defense with shots and eventually scored a key insurance goal when Gibran scored on a give-and-go play with Barriors with seven minutes left in the game.

“We were a bit shaky at the outset, but eventually found our groove,” said Aberdeen head coach and recent 2026 Hall of Fame inductee Larry Fleming, who cited the performances of Garcia, Granados and senior defenders Cristhian Lopez and Edgar Ceja. “If not for some outstanding hustle by the Elma defense and goalkeeper, we would have scored many more tonight.”

Elma’s junior varsity team defeated Aberdeen JV 2-0 on Thursday.

Aberdeen hosts Hoquiam in a Myrtle Street Rivaly game at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Elma faces Rochester in a 1A Evergreen League opener at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Elma.

Elma 1 0 – 1

Aberdeen 1 2 – 3

Scoring

First half – 1, Elma, Venegas, 13th minute. 2, Aberdeen, Barriors (Lopez).

Second half – 3, Aberdeen, Garcia (Granados), 50th minute. 4, Aberdeen, Garcia (Barriors), 73rd minute.

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