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Flintridge Prep boys’ soccer suffers heartbreaking loss against rival

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PASADENA — A leap-frog into second place in the Prep League standings beckoned for the Flintridge Prep boys’ soccer team.

Flintridge Prep stayed patient and built a two-goal lead against rival Pasadena Poly in a key Prep League match Friday.

Then things came unglued for the Rebels, who couldn’t protect the lead and suffered a 3-2 road defeat.

Pasadena Poly (13-5-1, 3-2 in league for six points) scored three unanswered goals in the final 31 minutes to grab a stranglehold on second place behind Firebaugh. The heartbreaking loss left Flintridge Prep (9-4-2, 1-3 for two points) scrambling in its quest to earn a playoff berth. The top two finishers in league automatically qualify for the postseason in two weeks.

“It’s the first time in my years coaching that Poly has swept us,” said Flintridge Prep Coach AJ Yates, whose team fell, 2-1, at home to Pasadena Poly on Jan. 29. “Hats off to them for coming back to win.

“We have to regroup and it will be a big challenge. It’s soccer. I liked the way our team competed. We just couldn’t pull it out.”

The Rebels have two league matches left. They will take on Chadwick and Firebaugh. Pasadena Poly has one league match remaining against Chadwick.

Flintridge Prep, which qualified for the playoffs last season, took a 1-0 lead in the third minute, Tim Treinen headed in a corner kick by Andrew Lathrop past goalkeeper Josh Hee. The Rebels protected the lead into the intermission.

The Rebels made it 2-0 when Treinen made a perfect pass up the right side to Garrett Gaines, who lined a shot just inside the left post in the 45th minute.

Then Pasadena Poly began its comeback.

Matt Alison cut the deficit in half with a goal in the 49th minute.

Alison then tied it at 2 in the 52nd minute when he directed the ball past goalkeeper Hamilton Evans after Evans made a save just inside the box.

The Rebels nearly regained the lead when a 40-yard shot by Ramzi Beshir went over the crossbar in the 74th minute.

Pasadena Poly completed its comeback about a minute later when Clay Hillenburg was left uncovered near the right post and tapped the ball past Evans with three minutes remaining.

}It’s a game with plenty of emotion when you play your rival,” Treinen said. “We were looking good and they had that fight in them to come back. We knew they would continue to work hard being down two goals.

“It’s a tough loss and now we have to bounce back.”

Pasadena Poly Coach Doug Jolly said the Panthers needed to stay aggressive after falling behind early.

“We’ve been able to do that all year and we do have a good team,” Jolly said. “We had to stick to what we needed to do and create some scoring chances and we were able to.

“We were able to stay within ourselves and I think the main difference in the second half is that we won some more battles for the ball.”

Evans finished with five saves, all in the second half.

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