Westlake Survives 1st-Round Scare, 3-2

Hawthorne High soccer Coach Bud Reagan has weathered a tough season. He lost 17 players from the program this year because of eligibility or personal problems, and in Thursday’s first-round Southern Section 4-A playoff game against top-seeded Westlake, Reagan was down to 13 players and had to send a freshman out to tend goal.

His two starting goalies were unavailable: One was ineligible and one was at a funeral. Reagan admitted that he expected the match to be a funeral for the rest of the team, too.

But Hawthorne refused to be buried without a fight as Westlake almost blew a 3-0 lead on a windy day, then barely held on for a 3-2 victory at Newbury Park High.

Westlake’s Eric Wynalda scored two goals to help stake the Warriors to a 3-0 lead midway through the second half. Westlake (20-1-2) had to weather a late Hawthorne (12-11-2) rally, however, a development that left Westlake Coach Mike Williams worried about what had almost gone very, very wrong.

“Yeah, I think we were looking past this game,” Williams said. “I also think having two weeks off since our last game was a hindrance.”

The wind was a big hindrance in the first half, when Westlake was forced to head into a 25-m.p.h. breeze that batted down several shots at Ted Golden, making his first varsity start. Westlake’s only first-half goal came on a left-footed shot by Wynalda from 10 yards at the 35-minute mark.

Westlake’s Mike Swyney scored from 10 yards five minutes into the second half. Wynalda scored 20 minutes later from 35 yards on a shot from the left corner that bounced over Golden’s head.

At the time, the goal looked like padding on Wynalda’s statistics. The senior striker increased his school season record to 32 goals. But the bad-bounce shot became the eventual margin of victory.

Hawthorne’s Arthur Oregel beat Westlake keeper Chris Volk for Hawthorne’s first goal 26 minutes into the half to cut the lead to 3-1. Ten minutes later, Arturo Yepez drilled a 30-yard shot into the left corner to cut the margin to one.

Hawthorne had a chance to tie at the 38-minute mark but missed a direct kick from 35 yards.

Westlake meets Santa Barbara on Tuesday in the second round. Santa Barbara lost, 3-0, to Westlake, 3-0, earlier in the season.