Second-half woes continue to bite Crescenta Valley boys’ soccer
LA CRESCENTA – Second halves have been problematic this season for the Crescenta Valley High boys’ soccer team.
Such was the case again on Thursday’s second day of the Crescenta Valley Winter Classic as the Falcons surrendered two second-half goals in a 2-1 defeat to Valencia Valencia.
The loss was the second in as many days for Crescenta Valley (4-4-2), which opened tournament play with a 4-3 setback to Royal on Wednesday. Crescenta Valley concludes pool play Friday at 3 p.m. versus Sylmar.
“This one is going to sting, at least for the next 22 hours,” Falcons coach Grant Clark said. “We had a lot of opportunities and didn’t convert them. We stood around too much on offense and made four or five mistakes on defense that you can’t make in a varsity match.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Valencia, because they earned it, but this is hard. That second-half snake came up and bit us in the butt.”
Crescenta Valley opened the season with a 2-1 loss to Los Angeles City Section power El Camino Real at home on Nov. 30 after leading, 1-0, at the break. The Falcons also tied Burbank, 2-2, after going ahead, 2-0, at the half on Dec. 8, while Crescenta Valley also tied La Cañada, 1-1, on Dec. 20 after taking a 1-0 advantage after 40 minutes.
Thursday’s match-winner came on a brilliant strike in the 69th minute.
Vikings midfielder Luke Fowble had two teammates cutting toward the Falcons’ goal when the midfielder surprised everyone and launched a crisp 30-yard strike into the upper left corner of the net for a goal as Valencia took a 2-1 lead.
Fowble’s goal capped the offense from the Vikings (2-2-1), who knotted the match at 1 in the 47th minute shortly after forward Ian Young was taken down in the box while charging toward the net.
Young elected to take the penalty shot and rifled a goal off the out-stretched hand of diving Crescenta Valley goalie Kevin Reid (six saves) to tie the score at 1.
Though Crescenta Valley outshot Valencia, 12-9, the Vikings were more effective as they won the shots-on-goal battle, 8-6.
“In the first half, we let the game play a bit and Crescenta Valley created more opportunities,” Valencia coach Tony Scalercio said. “In the second half, we applied pressure a little higher up in the field and evened out the chances.”
Crescenta Valley kept the ball on its side of the field for most of the contest, but didn’t cash that advantage in until the 36th minute.
Junior Jesus Pena sent a through ball to sophomore Eric Cho, who knocked in a 10-yard goal that gave the Falcons a 1-0 lead that they eventually carried into halftime.
The goal presented some redemption for Cho, who was out of position on two previous attacking opportunities inside the penalty area and heard about each gaffe immediately after from Clark.
“I just wanted to score to quiet my coaches,” Cho quipped. “Jesus sent me a great pass and all I had to do was tap it in.”
Crescenta Valley came close on other opportunities, such as on a header from Chris Sanfilippo in the 43rd minute that required a leaping save from Valencia goalie Daniel Rodriguez (five saves). Cho also had a 20-yard side-winding shot in the 60th minute go wide right by about a yard.
Ultimately, there was no equalizer for Crescenta Valley.
