Simi Valley Wins a Wild One Over Upland in Quarterfinal

The Simi Valley soccer team could double as an amusement ride if the need ever arises. The thrills, the chills and the spills are all there.

The top-ranked Pioneers gave a home crowd of 300 a wild ride for 80 minutes Friday, beating Upland in the Southern Section 4-A quarterfinals, 4-3.

Although the Pioneers have won Marmonte League championships nine of the last 10 years, they have never reached the final in playoffs.

Simi Valley now must beat seventh-ranked Thousand Oaks, the Marmonte League third-place team, in the semifinals to reach the championship game this year. Thousand Oaks defeated Culver City, 2-1, on Friday.

Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks have met four times this season. Two games ended in ties and two were won by Simi Valley. Just thinking about another game with Thousand Oaks gives Pioneers Coach Andy Silva white knuckles.

“I don’t want to see that,” Silva said. “I’m a firm believer that if you play a team enough times you’ll have a bad game and they’ll end up beating you.”

But a bad game was nowhere to be found against Upland.

Simi Valley won with passing that was right on the mark. Robert Harris, Jeff Tregembo, Steve MacKenzie and Ricky Acuna passed and shot well, especially in the second half.

At halftime, the game was tied at one after MacKenzie scored on a head shot and Upland’s Eric Weetman scored on a penalty kick.