Men's soccer team falls in penalty kicks
Nov 22, 2005
Ninth-seeded East Los Angeles upset its second straight Orange
Empire Conference team in the Southern California Regional Men's Soccer
Playoffs, defeating No. 3 Irvine Valley, 5-4, on penalty kicks on
Tuesday in the second round after 90 minutes of regulation play and two
15-minute overtime periods were scoreless between the two teams.
East Los Angeles won at No. 7 Orange Coast, 3-2, last Saturday.
Irvine
Valley and East Los Angeles both made four penalties to be tied, 4-4,
after the first round (five players) of the shootout.
East Los
Angeles then won, 5-4, after the Huskies’ sixth shooter Nahavi Mendoza
made his shot and Irvine Valley’s sixth shooter, freshman Josh Montoya,
had his saved by East Los Angeles goalie Alan De La Cruz.
Irvine
Valley out-shot East Los Angeles in the game, 13-9, and had control for
good portions of the match. The Lasers might have had the better
opportunities to score as well.
Freshman defender Casey
Cordray was wide on a header in the 20th minute. Midway through the
second half, Irvine Valley sophomore defender Matt Johnson crossed a
ball into the box from the left side, but freshman Daniel Ramirez
couldn’t get a good shot on goal.
In the first overtime
period, Johnson fired a low, hard shot that De La Cruz was able to
save. Just before the end of the first overtime, Cordray knocked a shot
over the top of the goal. And in the second overtime Johnson hit a
header just over the goal off a corner kick from Troy Cole.
Irvine Valley freshman goalie Stuart Nichols made a nice diving
save on East Los Angeles’ best chance to score just before the end of
the first half. He came out from his line to knock away a shot by the
Huskies’ Jevon Bowen.
In the penalty kick
shootout, Nichols saved East Los Angeles’ first attempt by Ricardo
Raygoza. Cole made Irvine Valley’s first attempt, sending the ball into
the lower, right corner of the net.
The teams then traded
makes, with Edward Hernandez and Kevin Escobar converting for East Los
Angeles and Ramirez and Johnson making kicks for the Lasers. Irvine
Valley led, 3-2, after the third round.
In the fourth round,
Bryan Castro made his kick for East Los Angeles, but Cordray had his
penalty saved by De La Cruz. The teams were tied, 3-3, after four
round.
In the fifth round, Rudy Flores made his attempt for
the Huskies and IVC sophomore Steve Wulff buried his shot into the left
corner to tie it at 4-4 after five shooters.
The shootout then went to sudden death and in the sixth round Mendoza made his and Montoya missed ending Irvine Valley's season.
The Lasers finished with a record of 13-5-3 overall.
East
Los Angeles (11-7-8) moves on to play No. 2 Santa Ana, Dec. 3 in a
regional final. Santa Ana defeated San Diego City, 9-3, on Tuesday.