Defeat Rains on Royal in Sudden Death, 2-1

As rain fell on the Bob Jacob Memorial Stadium at Simi Valley High, so did Royal’s hopes to win its first Simi Valley Soccer Tournament in six attempts. The Highlanders lost a tough semifinal game, 2-1, to Thousand Oaks in sudden-death overtime penalty kicks.

Regulation play ended at 1-1. Each team hit all five overtime penalty kicks, which put the game in sudden-death; the first team to miss a penalty kick loses.

Royal’s Nacho Laura missed on the second kick, slicing the ball wide left.

Mark Hutten of Thousand Oaks (11-2) stepped to the 12-yard mark and fired toward goalie Louis Rodrigez. Rodrigez blocked the kick, but was called for moving before the ball was touched. Hutten hit on the second try to earn the Lancers a berth in today’s final against Simi Valley.

Royal clearly dominated the first half of the game. Yet the Highlanders trailed at halftime when Mike Berke took a pass from Tommy Truong and deflected the ball off the left post and into the goal to give Thousand Oaks a 1-0 lead.

The Highlanders again took command in the second half and tied it on a 40-yard shot Edwin Vela, only to lose in the penalty shots.

Royal faces Oxnard for third place at 3:30 today.

Simi Valley 2, Oxnard 1--The semifinal win was the third straight that Simi has won on penalty kicks. The Pioneers (12-0-1) beat Beverly Hills on Thursday on the best of five penalty shots, and again earlier Friday against Chaminade in the quarterfinals.

Oxnard scored first in regulation on a penalty shot by Roberto Cardena. With 5:03 left in the first half, Simi evened the score on a penalty shot by Steve MacKenzie.

In the overtime penalty shots, Simi goalkeeper Steve Bame blocked the first shot by Oxnard’s Juan Gonzalez. Simi made all five shots to win.

The final will pit Marmonte League rivals Simi and Thousand Oaks. The Lancers finished second to Simi in league last year and were beaten by the Pioneers in the semifinal game of last weekend’s Damien Tournament.

Said Simi coach Andy Silva: “It’s going to be a hard-fought match. Thousand Oaks is going to have revenge on their minds so the pressure is really on us.”

Game time is 5 p.m.

Royal 2, Calabasas 0--The Highlanders put Calabasas out of championship contention in Friday’s early game. Cameron Rast and Edwin Vela each scored for Royal.

Calabasas went on to defeat Santa Monica in a later game, 1-0, on a single goal by Brad Bookbinder. The Coyotes will meet Agoura in the fifth-place game at 2 p.m. today.

Agoura 3, Chaminade 0--Agoura, the defending tournament champion, lost a close match to Oxnard earlier in the day. The score was tied at 0-0 at the end of regulation and was decided on penalty shots.

Kevin Jauch, Egan Forino and Jim Keville each scored to lead Agoura (7-2) past a battered Chaminade team. Seven of the Eagles’ players were injured going into the match.

“That, and three of our fullbacks went skiing this weekend,” said Chaminade coach Paul Chapel.

Westlake 5, Moorpark 1--The Musketeers crushed Tri-Valley League rival Oak Park 6-1 earlier in the day, then were routed themselves by a talented Westlake team in the consolation semifinal.

Moorpark took an early lead on a goal by Oscar Oviedo. By halftime, however, two goals by Eric Wynalda and one each by Wally Androski and Brett Potter put the Warriors ahead, 4-1. Steve Loring put a head shot through the posts midway through the second half to insure the win for Westlake.

Westlake will meet Palos Verdes in the consolation final at 11 a.m. today.

Friday’s Scores

Championship Bracket: Simi 2, Chaminade 1 (PK); Oxnard 1, Agoura 0 (PK); Royal 2, Calabasas 0; Thousand Oaks 3, Santa Monica 2.

Championship Semifinals: Simi 2, Oxnard 1 (PK); Thousand Oaks 2, Royal 1 (PK).

Fifth-place Semifinals: Agoura 3, Chaminade 0; Calabasas 1, Santa Monica 0.

Ninth-place Quarterfinals: Beverly Hills 5, Rancho (Las Vegas) 0; Hart 3, Arcadia 0; Clark (Las Vegas) 3, South Pasadena 1; Santa Paula 6, Nordhoff 0.

Ninth-Place Semifinals: Beverly Hills 2, Hart 1; Santa Paula 2, Clark (Las Vegas) 1.

Consolation Bracket: Moorpark 6, Oak Park 1; Westlake 6, El Dorado (Las Vegas) 0; Palos Verdes 3, Simi (JV) 1; Burroughs (R) 2, Valley (Las Vegas) 1 (PK).

Consolation Semifinals: Westlake 5, Moorpark 1; Palos Verdes 3, Burroughs (R) 0.