BOYS’ SOCCER / CITY SECTION PLAYOFFS : Lopez Leads Monroe Past San Fernando

Monroe High boys’ soccer Coach Elias Andrade got some bad news Wednesday. His second favorite team, San Fernando, lost in the City Section playoffs.

But the good news was his Vikings beat San Fernando, 3-1, in a first-round match at Monroe.

Viking forward Wilson Lopez scored two goals, including the go-ahead score midway through the second half, and Rafael Jaramillo added an insurance goal with 15 minutes to play.

The third-seeded Vikings (10-1) advanced to the quarterfinal round Friday, when they will play host to the winner of Palisades-Washington match.

The victory was bittersweet for Andrade, considering his many ties to the San Fernando program.

He played soccer for San Fernando in the early 1970s, including on the 1973 team that won the City championship, and was an assistant to the team in 1975-76. To top it off, his best friend is San Fernando Coach Arturo Vazquez.

“It was tough to play him,” Vazquez said. “It was like playing your brother.”

Andrade even gave a postgame pep talk to the San Fernando players.

“It’s bad to confront each other this early in the playoffs,” Andrade said before the game. “But Arturo and I try to look at it in a positive sense. This way, either his team or my team will continue in the playoffs. Last year, we both lost in the first round.”

Monroe lost to Palisades in last year’s playoffs, a result of an anemic offense, Andrade said.

But this season’s Vikings have nothing if not offensive power, and it showed, sort of. They frequently created excellent scoring opportunities in the first half, but squandered most of them, scoring only when Lopez poked in a loose ball in the 20th minute.

“We missed so many opportunities,” Andrade said. “We were overanxious, which sometimes happens in the first playoff game.”

Tiger forward Omar Pasqualato tied the score on a deftly executed volley from 25 yards away in the 12th minute of the second half. Pasqualato juggled the ball twice to set it up in the air before blasting it into the upper-left corner of the net.

But Lopez scored his second goal when forward Santiago Lugo knocked the ball loose from Tiger goalkeeper Hector Morales, and Lopez touched the ball into the open net.

“He’s a very, very secure player,” Andrade said of Lopez. “He doesn’t lose his cool, which is very important.”