SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION II BOYS’ SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP : Mater Dei Gets Plenty of Support in Victory

A team effort is the only way to describe Mater Dei’s 4-1 victory over Esperanza in the Southern Section Division II boys’ soccer final Saturday at Cerritos Gahr High.

If the Monarchs give out game balls, Coach Martin Stringer probably would need to borrow from the girls’ team.

Rudy Gomez scored twice, Kevin Quigley and John Gerdis each had a goal and two assists and defensemen Ryan Chaput, Ryan McLean and Chris Hulgreen combined to form a fortress around the Mater Dei goal.

It had been seven years since third-seeded Mater Dei made an appearance in the finals and a little more than a year for Esperanza, but it was the Monarchs who played like post-season veterans.

It sure doesn’t hurt to have 11 seniors on your sideline either.

“It’s been a great year for the seniors,” Stringer said. “They are the leaders and today they showed why.”

Gomez is not part of the ruling class of seniors, but he played big, scoring the first two goals for the Monarchs (24-2-4).

The first came 17 minutes into the game when Brandon Smallwood passed ahead to Quigley who was a step ahead of the nearest defender. Quigley worked his way toward the goal and fed Gomez, who redirected the ball inside the left post.

Mater Dei made it 2-0 when Gerdis spotted Gomez in traffic and set the ball in front of him. Gomez then beat Aztec goalkeeper Jason Fikse to the ball and drove it under his left arm 10 minutes into the second half.

Quigley then added another goal a minute later when he ran down a long pass in the corner of the field, dribbled toward Fikse and sent his hard shot past the charging goalkeeper and into the side of the net.

The defending champion Aztecs (18-6-5) scored with 10 minutes remaining as Gerdis saved an Esperanza shot, but it was ruled that the ball was behind the goal line when he made contact. The Monarchs cushioned their lead to three when Quigley left-footed a pass to Gerdis, who scored with a drive past a diving Fikse.

“Our younger players needed more experience and that was the difference,” Esperanza Coach Kino Oaxaca said. “When they scored those two goals within a couple of minutes, that showed our inexperience.”