No. 1 Brea Loses Title to Rowland

Top-seeded Brea-Olinda came into the Division VI championship game with a 5.00 goals-against average, but Rowland Heights Rowland didn’t seem too impressed.

The Wildcats gave up more than that and lost to third-seeded Rowland, 11-8, Wednesday at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

Brea-Olinda (25-5) was seeking its first Southern Section boys’ title in six years after finishing the regular season atop the Division VI standings.

However, the Wildcats will have to settle for second-best, even though they did break a school record for victories in a season and advanced to the semifinals for the first time in school history.

“We had a few scoring chances we didn’t convert on,” Brea-Olinda Coach Dave Wright said. “The major factor was on offense, they got it done and we didn’t.”

The score was tied, 3-3, after the opening quarter, but Rowland took the lead in the second quarter and never let go.

Michael Mineo, who scored a game-high four goals, converted on a two-man advantage a minute into the quarter and then backhanded a shot past Tim Beschel at 3:22 for a 5-3 lead.

Matt Flesher cut the lead to one with 2:08 left in the half and the Wildcats had a chance to tie on the next possession, but an offensive foul forced them to give the ball to Rowland.

The Raiders (24-6) took advantage and scored on a pass from Tony Grosso to Kenny Clements to take a 6-4 halftime lead.

Mineo used the backhand move again to beat Beschel and Rowland increased its lead to 8-5 with 2:52 left in the third quarter.

Brea-Olinda followed with a goal from Eric Matthews and another from Tad Murphy 21 seconds later as the Wildcats cut the Raider lead to one.

Murphy, the Orange League most valuable player, was held to three goals, including one over the final three quarters.