Men's socccer team rallies to stun San Diego City
Nov 21, 2006
Sophomore Troy Cole scored on a blast from about 30 yards out with less than two minutes left in regulation time to help save the Irvine Valley College men’s soccer team’s season Tuesday afternoon.
The goal lifted the Lasers into a 2-2 tie with San Diego City and then after two scoreless overtime periods, the second-seeded Lasers defeated the Knights in penalty kicks, 4-1, in a second round match in the Southern California Regional Playoffs.
Irvine Valley, which improved its record to 15-3-4, moves on to a regional final game Dec. 2. The Lasers will host No. 6 LA Mission, which was a 2-1 upset winner over No. 3 Long Beach in another second round playoff match on Tuesday.
Irvine Valley made all four shots it took in the penalty kick session. Freshman Luis Miguel put his in the lower left corner, freshman Matt Bissiri and freshman Roberto Linck scored down the middle with their shots and after a San Diego City miss, freshman Sina Alipour beat San Diego City keeper Robin Gilson with his penalty shot to the upper right corner to wrap up the win for the Lasers.
Freshman Irvine Valley goalie Jesus Olivera also came up with a big save, stopping the first penalty kick taken by San Diego City's Casey Ustick.
“It could have been over today, but we didn’t want it to be over,” Irvine Valley Coach Martin McGrogan said. “We didn’t play that well today, but we worked very hard out there and played well enough to win. Good teams find a way to win.”
Irvine Valley scored first in the match. Freshman Dillon McEwin beat Gilson from eight yards out after receiving a pass inside from freshman Taylor Campbell.
But San Diego City came back strong with several attacks at the IVC net toward the end of the first half. The Knights continued to play well in the second half and scored two goals within a four-minute span midway through the half.
Robert Ustick beat Olivera with a long-range, right-footed shot to the lower left corner in the 65th minute and then Jean Willrich rose up to head a ball down over Olivera and then tapped it in with his foot in the 69th minute.
The Lasers were scrambling down the stretch until Cole came through with the big goal to tie the game. His shot hit the crossbar and bounced down over the goal line.
“As soon as I hit it I knew it was in,” Cole said. “I didn’t even know what to think. I just blanked out. I just remember all my teammates running over to me and jumping on me. There isn’t a better feeling than that.”