Crescenta Valley boys’ soccer fails to find rhythm in playoff loss
WHITTIER – A set piece goal in the 35th minute was enough to end what had been a wonderful season for the Crescenta Valley High boys’ soccer team.
The second-seeded Falcons were under siege all afternoon, but allowed only one score – via a throw-in – to be their undoing in a 1-0 loss at Whittier California High in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division III playoffs on Wednesday afternoon.
While the Del Rio League second-place Condors (16-6) move on to the quarterfinals, Crescenta Valley concludes its season with an 18-5-3 record, a postseason victory and the program’s first Pacific League title since 2012.
“We had trouble with everything today,” Crescenta Valley coach Grant Clark said. “We couldn’t win 50-50 balls, we couldn’t connect passes and we really had a difficult time connecting with our feet. It felt that they were playing with 12 and we were playing with 10 half the time.”
California created more chances and won the shots battle, 14-5, with the Falcons going long stretches of time without a solid look.
Despite that dominance, the Condors’ lone goal was part brilliant throw, part unlucky defense.
California junior defender Daniel Oropeza hurled a 30-yard throw-in toward the Falcons’ net in the 35th minute of a scoreless contest.
The toss sailed over the head of every player and required a leaping stop from Crescenta Valley goalie Sipan Arakelian.
Unfortunately for the senior, the ball bounced off the tips of his fingers and scored to give the Condors a 1-0 lead.
“It’s a terrible way to lose the game,” Clark said.
To add injury to insult, Arakelian went down hard on the play and suffered a concussion, according to Clark, and was taken out.
Arakelian was replaced by senior goalie Kevin Reid and the duo combined for eight saves.
California’s first goal could have been the first of many if not for Crescenta Valley’s goaltending.
In the 49th minute, California’s Dominik Gutierrez was denied on a sliding save by Reid, who then blocked a rebound shot from Oropeza.
Reid also knocked down a point-blank header from Ulices Hernandez in the 63rd minute to keep Crescenta Valley within striking distance.
“For us, it was all about touching the ball,” California coach Lino Gomez said. “We knew one would go in. The guys have been working so hard all season and that hard work is paying off.”
Crescenta Valley had a few serious chances in the contest, the first coming 50 seconds into the match when a defensive breakdown allowed a wide-open 20-yard shot from senior Dallas Kaauwai.
Falcons senior Ayden Blackwood also rocketed a shot in the 39th minute that squirted past Condors goalie Nathaniel Soto (four saves), who turned around and snatched the ball before it could cross the goal line for a score.
“After the first 15 minutes, [California] began to press us and they created all these chances,” Kaauwai said. “They’re a hard-working team and we got shaken up mentally after that goal and didn’t get up to the level of play we wanted to.”
