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| BIG PLAY -- Eagle Andre Larsen (not shown) has just out-fought (and flattened) most of the Jaguar defense, and has rocketed in a crossing pass that teammate Trevor Reed (14, center) had a chance to head into an empty net, but couldn't quite get his head back far enough. A goal would have put the Eagles ahead 3-2. Katarina Holland, Christian Learning |
Jaguars overcome Eagles, 5-2
The Cooperative boys varsity soccer team won its berth in the championship game with a 5-2 victory over Christian Learning on the Jaguars field Thursday afternoon. Freshman Flash Santiago Paz accounted for four of the Jaguar goals, with Juan Carlos Laguna adding the fifth. Andre Larsen and Caleb Ropp scored for the Eagles.
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| BLOCK THAT KICK -- Eagle Trevor Reed (14) tries to get to the ball in front of the Jaguar goal. Jaguar Lenardo Landivar (13) seeks to prevent him from doing so Katarina Holland, Christian Learning |
Nonetheless the Jaguars were able to score first on a missed trap at midfield which led to a quick strike up the middle by Paz.
The Eagles' Andre Larsen answered about ten minutes later with a long ball he got to bounce high over the goalie, and then in the ensuing scramble Larsen and/or a defender got the ball into the net, tying the score at 1-1.
First half play continued to flow back and forth with the Jaguars getting the better of the chances and hitting the goalposts twice. But there was plenty to excite the Eagle fans as well, mostly provided by Larsen's further exploits around the Jaguar goal.
The undefeated Jaguars thus found themselves in a 1-1 tie at halftime in the semifinal battle for the right to play for the championship trophy, against a team that hadn't won all season. Would this be another Cinderella story, reminiscent of last year's championship in which the mighty Jaguars had lost to Cambridge, a team that hadn't won a game in the regular season?
Play moved smartly up and down the field in the second half, but with the Jaguars adding a bit more pressure, and seemingly becoming a bit more desperate to drive the pesky Eagles back to their roost. Christian Learning almost took the lead (unthinkable!) when Larsen out dueled the Jaguar goalie for the ball on the left side of the goal box and crossed it, but Trevor Reed's header toward the empty goal went awry and the score remained tied.
Cooperative answered with a quick run down the right side and a pass from the goal line back to Paz who slipped the ball in under diving goalie Wesley Ordonez to give the Jaguars a 2-1 lead.
But the Eagles weren't finished. An Eagle corner kick gave Ropp a chance at a header, and he buried the ball in the far left corner of the Jaguar net to tie the game up at 2-2.
Cooperative then had a near miss on a free kick from just outside the penalty box. In a well executed piece of trickery the the first Jaguar ran over the ball, after which a second player slammed a wicked, left-footed, inside-out hooking shot that skidded off the top of the crossbar. (So far the Jaguars were being victimized in part by their own low goal.)
But then the wheels finally came off. Twice Eagle players ended up on the ground and their fans screamed for a foul call, but didn't get it. (Two yellow cards were issued to Jaguar players at other points in then game.)
In the ensuing play after the second collision Paz got loose on a semi-breakaway and tucked the ball into the far right corner of the net.
The lift clearly seemed to go out from under the Eagles' wings at this point, and in short order the Jaguars added two more goals -- Paz' fourth and Laguna's -- to finish out the scoring and the Eagle hopes.
The final score: 5-2. The Jaguars won their ticket to the championship game with International, but the Eagles had made it clear they will be a force to be reckoned with in the consolation game against Cambridge. (Of course, Cambridge didn't have all that bad a day itself. See below.)
And as the Eagle players and fans dispersed into the smoky night, the cry could be heard: "Wait ´til basketball!"
Keith Wilcke of Christian Learning provided this account.
Griffins win in dramatic shootout
T he International boys varsity soccer team fought its way into the championship game with a semifinal victory over Cambridge by the closest margin possible Thursday on their home field.
The high-energy, thrill-packed regulation game ended 2-2, the same score racked up by the two teams when they met earlier in the season. The outcome was then decided by a penalty shootout that unfolded in spectacularly dramatic fashion.
In the shoot-out five players from each team try to make a penalty shot. Cambridge goalie Jose Luis Rivera blocked the shots of the first two International shooters, while Cambridge's Alvaro Lopez and Matias Martinez made their shots, giving the Knights a 2-0 lead.
But then it was the turn of International goalkeeper Santiago Maldonado to come up with the big plays as he blocked the next three shots by Cambridge, while his teammates made all three of theirs, giving International the win 3-2.
Both teams dought fiercely for dominance at the start of the game, and the Griuffins had the first real chance with Jorge Harriague was founed in the penalty area. However his penalty shot went wide. Harriague atonbed form that a few inutes later when he rammed in a rebound.
The half ended with International ahead 1-0, but not before Harriague almost engineered another goal when he took control of a kick from the Griffin goalie, dribbled the ball through the center of the field and then passed it to teammate Gary Suarez who was standing right just at the goalmouth of Cambridge. However, Suarez' short shot missed high and to the left.
Cambridge's best opportunities came on two consecutrive corner kicks late in the half, but the first was mis-kicked, and the second successfully cleared by Griffin defenders.
Cambridge retaliated at the beginning of the second half with a similarly opportunistic goal by Matheo Asturizaga.
The Griffins then retook the lead when Andres Estennsoro, swooping in from the left hand side accompanied by several several teammates in what looked like an American football "power sweep," banged the ball into the right hand corner of the goal.The Knights evened things up with a surgically precise free kick by Marlon Castillo. Castillo, shooting from about 30 meters out on the right-hand side of the goal noted that Maldonado had lined up on the left-hand side of the goal, and unleashed a scorching, curving drive aimed exactly at the upper right-hand corner of the coal -- and hit it. Maldonado got a hand on the ball, knocking it up to the crossbar, but it bounced down into the goal.
The game was full of other thrilling moments, as the action moved up and down the field at an amazing pace in a style of play that has been characteristic of the storied competition between the two schools. .
For a while in then second half Knight forward Matias Martinez seemed to have charge of the action, winning a series of footraces to balls going into the corner, then firing centering passes across the mouth of the goal, but his teammates kept narrowly missing connections.
A hard shot by a Griffin bounced loose from goalie Rivera's grasp, but no one was there to knock it in.
And on it went into the smoky gloaming, with both sides making legitimate threats without finding an opening.
The loss means that Interrnational will get another shot at beating Cooperative, with whom they tied 0-0 in their previous meeting this year, in the championship game next week. It also meant that Cambridge will not get a chance to defend the title they won in Cinderella fashion last year. The Knights will play a resurgent Christian Learning team in the consolation game. Cambridge has beaten the Eagles twice this year, but the games were extremely close, being decided by a single goal in both cases.
(Sung Eun Song of International contributed to this report.)
