Soccer team's bid for state tourney comes up short
Dec 02, 2006
The Irvine Valley men’s soccer team’s season ended in the playoffs on its own field for the second straight year.
Just one match away from the state championships, second-seeded Irvine Valley fell to sixth-seeded Los Angeles Mission, 2-0, Saturday afternoon in a Southern California Regional Playoff final.
Los Angeles Mission (20-1-4) moves on to the state championship tournament, which takes place Dec. 8-10 at Fresno Pacific University.
It was an evenly played match until the final two minutes when L.A. Mission, which was the first place team from the Western State Conference, came up with two goals.
In the 88th minute, Jhonathan Bravo slotted a pass inside the box to a streaking Oscar Garcia. Garcia took one touch and then stuck a left-footed shot by charging IVC goalie Jesus Olivera and just inside the left post.
It was Garcia’s 15th goal of the season and 43rd point.
Irvine Valley then pushed players forward in hopes of equalizing and L.A. Mission took advantage in the 90th minute to put the game away.
A two on one break occurred and Bravo found Rudy Maravilla, who dribbled by Olivera and then found an empty net for the score. It was Maravilla’s ninth goal of the year. Bravo’s two assists gave him a state-leading 25 on the season.
“They were a good team and there is no doubt about that,” Irvine Valley Coach Martin McGrogan said. “Give them full credit. We worked very hard and I thought we were playing better as the game went on. We fancied our chances if the game went into overtime. We made a mistake defensively (on their first goal) and never recovered. But I thought L.A. Mission played very well.”
Irvine Valley played well early in the game. The Lasers even had a goal called back in the opening minutes because of a hand ball in the box.
Los Angeles Mission then nearly took the lead, but a long-range shot by Garcia that looked headed for the upper right corner of the net was punched over the top by Olivera in the 15th minute.
The teams went back and forth at each other after that with neither side having any real good opportunities to score for the rest of the half.
Mission’s Gerardo Bravo hit the crossbar with a shot from outside the box early in the second half.
But it was Irvine Valley that moving forward and pressuring the rest of the way.
Sina Alipour had his shot go wide and Luis Miguel and Matt Bissiri also had chances for IVC before Mission scored the eventual game-winner with two minutes left.
Irvine Valley ends its season with a record of 15-4-4 overall. It finished second in the Orange Empire Conference.
Irvine Valley was making its sixth regional final appearance and was trying to get to the state tournament for the fourth time in school history. IVC won state titles in 1993 and 2003 and was the state runner-up in 1991.
“We hope everyone is back and we can learn from this experience and maybe get an opportunity next year to put this disappointment behind us,” McGrogan said.