La Cañada boys’ soccer rallies to win playoff opener

LA CAÑADA — The La Cañada boys’ soccer team found itself trailing after one half of its CIF Southern Section Division VI first-round match Saturday evening against La Salle.

That was troubling for the Spartans, who had played the Lancers two times previously and came away with two victories.

Despite the early deficit, La Cañada battled back and scored two second-half goals, the game-winner with 10 minutes left from Luke Bonham, to earn a 2-1 victory.

The contest was originally scheduled for Friday, but was postponed because of rain.

“I knew it was probably going to be a very tough game against them,” said Spartans Coach Bruno Costa, whose team won a Rio Hondo League championship for the first time in five seasons. “When you’ve played a team twice before and you’ve beaten them twice, it’s very hard to play and win a third time. And it’s hard to motivate your players because they have already beaten them twice.”

The Lancers (12-12-1), who finished tied for first in the Camino Real League, took a 1-0 lead against La Cañada (11-4-6) with a goal in the 11th minute.

The Spartans tied the score at 1 with a booming goal from Brandon Grandalski that skipped in from 35 yards out in the 52nd minute.

The Spartans tallied the match-winner with 10 minutes left on a goal by Bonham, who was positioned near the goal and was able to blast it in.

“On that goal, Luke just had to pick what corner he wanted to put it in,” Costa said. “He was in a very good position.”

La Cañada moves on to the second round on Wednesday. The Spartans will take on Webb or Environmental Charter, who also had their match postponed and rescheduled for Monday.

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Jeff Tully, jeff.tully@latimes.com

Twitter: @jefftsports