Boys’ soccer: Gallardo “devastated” by loss to Banning

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Until Wednesday, the biggest disappointment for the Bell boys’ soccer team was losing the Eastern League title to South East.

But on Wednesday, in the City Championship Division semifinals, Bell was knocked out of the playoffs by Banning in overtime, 5-3.

Coach Daniel Gallardo was frustrated on two fronts. Bell was good enough to erase three one-goal Banning leads, but never could get a lead on the Pilots. And the Eagles were unable to respond when Pilots forward Guillermo Beltran scored a goal in each of the two overtime periods.

‘I feel devastated by the loss,’ Gallardo said. ‘I was wondering what could have happened if we could get the lead ... it was a great game, but there were too many mistakes made by our defense. But Banning is a good, fast team. My defenders could not handle them.’

-- Mike Terry