Santa Margarita Clears Up Any Questions by Ousting Top Team

For 30 minutes Tuesday, the prospects of the Santa Margarita boys’ soccer team surviving the second round looked about as dismal as the day--foggy and wet. The Eagles trailed by two goals, their best defender was on the sideline and they couldn’t see more than 20 feet.

But almost simultaneously, the skies began to clear and Santa Margarita started its comeback. By game’s end, the fog had lifted and Santa Margarita had upset top-seeded Alta Loma, 3-2, to move into Southern Section Division III quarterfinals Thursday at Santa Margarita.

The unseeded Eagles (15-6-2) can thank Chon Kantikovit’s head, Matt Moses’ right leg and Alta Loma’s complacency for their victory. Kantikovit headed in Eagles’ first and third goals on perfect corner kicks from Moses, and Moses scored the second goal by himself when Alta Loma’s defense broke down.

Alta Loma Coach Michael Collins said his team simply relaxed once it took a 2-0 lead on an extremely muddy field that was full of puddles.

“Obviously when you’re the top seed and you get two goals up away from home, you relax,” Collins said. “We haven’t given up three goals in a game all year.”

And Collins said his team was not prepared for Santa Margarita’s corner kick play that has netted three goals in two playoff games. On both of his goals, Kantikovit set up in front of the near post and simply redirected Moses’ kick into the net by glancing the ball off his head.

“It’s really difficult to stop when it’s kicked right,” Santa Margarita Coach Curt Bauer said. “All the guy has to do is let it hit him in the head.”

Kantikovit, whose game-winner came with seven minutes left, said it’s not quite that simple.

“It has to be within five yards of me and I have to maintain position,” Kantikovit said. “But both of the kicks were beautiful and all I had to do was get my head around.”

Bauer said his team didn’t panic when it fell behind, 2-0.

“The hardest thing was getting them to believe,” Bauer said. “They came in as the top seed and won their first game, 8-0. The field conditions were also a factor. They have more skill than us but you can’t pass on this.”

Santa Margarita will have defender Matt Blasdel back for its quarterfinal game against Riverside North (18-2-4), which defeated Whittier La Serna, 3-0. Blasdel was red-carded in the Eagles’ first-round victory over Valencia and had to sit out one game. Alta Loma finished 26-2-2.

“We were exactly where they were last year,” Bauer said. “We were No. 1 all year and were expected to win and we lost.”

In another Division III game:

Loyola 9, Pacifica 3--Trevor Stivers scored twice for Pacifica (15-5-2), which trailed at the half, 6-2.

In Division II:

Newport Harbor 1, Riverside Poly 0--Garrett Jansma scored a second-half goal off an assist from Justin Kerr for visiting Newport Harbor (18-6-5), which advanced to play Moreno Valley Canyon Springs.

Orange 4, Chino Hills Ayala 0--Victor Diaz had a goal and two assists, Genar Lopez had a goal and an assist and Alex Garcia and Steven Gonzalez each scored goals for Orange (15-3-6).

Long Beach Jordan 1, Century 0--Jordan’s goal in the 48th minute helped it advance past Century, which finished 15-4-3.

In Division V:

Orange Lutheran 3, Santa Ynez 0--Goalkeeper Chad Griswold had nine saves for his 11th shutout in leading Orange Lutheran (17-3-5) at Santa Ynez. Patrick Chollet-Guibert, Eric Van de Zilver and Matt Stiles scored second-half goals for the Lancers.