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Jimenez scores three goals, leading NVC men's soccer team in Bay Valley Conference win

The starters for the Napa Valley College men’s soccer team going into a nonconference match in September at home against Santa Rosa Junior College. Photo courtesy of Marty James
The starters for the Napa Valley College men’s soccer team going into a nonconference match in September at home against Santa Rosa Junior College. Photo courtesy of Marty James
Posted: Oct 21, 2025

MARTY JAMES

martyjames.sports@gmail.com

Jovani Jimenez scored three goals, a hat trick, and the Napa Valley College's men's soccer team won its Bay Valley Conference match on Friday, Oct. 17, beating host Merritt College-Oakland, 4-2.

It was a season high for goals scored in a match for Napa Valley (2-6-4 overall, 1-2-1 Bay Valley Conference).

The Storm has scored 16 goals in 12 games.

Jimenez, a freshman forward, scored Napa Valley's first goal. It was in the 20th minute of the first half, with the assist going to Sergio Hernandez, a freshman forward. Jimenez's goal gave the Storm an early 1-0 lead.

Merritt tied the match, 1-1, scoring a goal in the 30th minute of the first half.

The match was tied, 1-1, at halftime.

Napa Valley scored three straight goals in the second half.

Hernandez scored in the 55th minute, off an assist from Jose Ramirez, a freshman forward. The Storm went ahead, 2-1.

Jimenez scored in the 61st minute, giving the Storm a 3-1 lead. The assist was credited to Salvador Gutierrez, a freshman.

Jimenez's unassisted goal in the 68th minute increased the Storm's lead to 4-1.

Merritt scored the final goal of the match in the 72nd minute of the second half. Napa Valley's goalkeepers, Cadel Newton-Knotch and Angel Olvera-Vega, combined for three saves.

Newton-Knotch had two saves in 75 minutes.

Olvera-Vega had one save in 15 minutes.

Napa Valley's next Bay Valley Conference match is on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at Woodland Community College at 4 p.m.

* Marty James is a freelance writer who makes his home in Napa. He retired on June 4, 2019 after spending 40 years as a sports writer, sports editor and executive sports editor for the Napa Valley Register, a daily newspaper in Napa County. He is a 1979 graduate of Sacramento State and a member of the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Association. He was inducted into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2016, the Vintage High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019, and the Napa High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022.