Sylmar’s Quickness Takes Toll on Bell

Huddled under a bulky purple jacket Tuesday, Bell High boys’ soccer Coach Jose Mercado was optimistic before his team’s City Section quarterfinal match at Sylmar.

“We won our first two playoff games by a goal,” Mercado said. “The first one was in overtime and the second we won on penalty kicks. If this game goes into overtime, we’re ready.”

Not a chance. The sixth-seeded Eagles (12-3-5) stayed with third-seeded Sylmar for all of 20 minutes before the smaller, quicker Spartans worked free and won, 4-0.

Sylmar (16-1-3) advances to a Thursday semifinal game at second-seeded Belmont. Second-year Coach Manuel Vega said he believes it is Sylmar’s first berth in a semifinal since the early 1980s.

Thursday’s other semifinal game matches fourth-seeded Garfield, a 3-2 victor over Chatsworth, at top-ranked Banning, which defeated Reseda, 4-3, in overtime.

During a rainy and cold afternoon and on a sodden field, Vega had worried that Sylmar’s main weapons--speed and ball control--could be negated. And though the Spartans struggled early, they broke free with a vengeance.

The first goal came in the 27th minute when Carlos Cabrera converted a penalty shot for his 23rd goal of the season. Sylmar forward Ivan Campos had dribbled into the Bell penalty area and was tripped, drawing a foul.

Sylmar scored again in the 38th minute and took a 2-0 lead into halftime. Campos dribbled in off the left wing and lofted a cross that bounced on the right side of the Bell penalty area.

As Bell goalie Carlos Velasquez pursued the ball, Sylmar’s Francisco Vasquez chipped it over him and back to the left post, where Campos tipped it in for his 10th goal of the season.

Demoralized and tiring, Bell wilted in the second half, rarely mounting an offensive threat. Meanwhile, Sylmar scored twice more, missed a pair of breakaways and had a goal disallowed by a questionable offsides call.

The Spartans went up, 3-0, in the 55th minute when Campos dribbled through a crowd in front of the Eagles’ goal and passed the ball toward the right post, where Ranferi Benitez scored his eighth goal from close range.

Vasquez scored the final goal, his first of the season, three minutes later on a 20-yard direct kick.

Vasquez and Cabrera were central to the Sylmar effort. Vega said the midfield pair’s speed and ability to distribute the ball have been crucial to the success of his undersized team.

But even with their skills, Vega expected Sylmar to finish in the middle of the Valley Pac-8 Conference this season. Instead, the Spartans captured their second conference title in three seasons.

“Based on what I saw last year both from our team and the competition, I really thought it was going to be a .500 year,” Vega said. “But I told them, ‘Play with all your heart at the beginning. If you win, then you will keep on winning.’ That’s been the key, they play hard.”