Reseda Crashes a Taft Party in Soccer Shoot-Out, 5-4

Doug Magorien celebrated Tuesday night, but he was not in the best of moods.

The Taft High soccer coach tried to observe his birthday--which actually falls today--after his team was eliminated from the City Section playoff picture by a team it twice had beaten during the regular season.

“Let’s just say, I have mixed feelings tonight,” Magorien said.

Reseda defeated Taft by outscoring the Toreadors, 5-4, in an overtime shoot-out at Birmingham High. The outcome determined the No. representative from the West Valley League for the playoffs that begin Thursday.

“It’s a heck of a way to lose, have a penalty kick go off a post,” Magorien said, after Tony Roknipour missed the final shoot-out attempt for Taft.

After each team made its first four shots from the penalty stripe, Ted Davila converted the winning attempt, setting the stage for Roknipour.

The shoot-out was needed after a 20-minute overtime period and a 10-minute sudden death period failed to break a 1-1 tie. In shoot-outs, teams alternate five free kicks from the penalty stripe (12 yards from the goal). The team that converts the most kicks is declared the winner.

Reseda now travels to Palisades, winner of the Western League, in the opening round of the playoffs.

Taft took a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the second half when Jake Gwin scored on a pass from Dimitry Marmershteyn. Reseda tied the score with 12 minutes remaining in regulation when Davila headed in a pass from Mario Cristales on a free kick.

“I think that after the first 15 minutes of play, we just dominated the rest of the way,” Reseda Coach George Hull said. “I always felt that we were the better team, we’ve just had problems with consistency.

“I think Taft played us tougher than anybody else all year. The two times they beat us, were the first times in the school’s history.”

Having to play Reseda in a tie-breaker, after beating the Regents twice in the regular season, did not make much sense to Magorien. The Toreadors also had to play Reseda this time without their best player, Ray Mansouri, who moved to Florida.

“The more I think about it, it’s strange. I coach volleyball and they do it one way for that and another way for soccer,” he said. “I’m just happy that the kids went out there and played as hard as they could.”

Other playoff pairings for Valley-area teams: Chatsworth, winner of the West Valley League, plays host to Venice; San Fernando, the second-place team from the Mid-Valley League, travels to Belmont; Monroe, winner of the Mid-Valley League, plays host to Los Angeles; and Poly, winner of the East Valley team, plays host to Wilson.

All games begin at 2:30.