Santa Ana Valley Wins With Penalty Kicks

It took Santa Ana Valley more than two hours, including overtime and sudden death, but the Falcons finally defeated Lakewood on penalty kicks, 3-2, Wednesday in a Division I boys’ soccer wild-card game.

Ending in a scoreless tie after regulation, overtime and sudden death, each team received five penalty kicks to decide the outcome.

Both teams missed their first shot, but Valley took a 3-2 lead on kicks by Fernando Rico, Raul Rizo and Edgar Marin. On the final kick by Lakewood (17-4-5), sophomore keeper Obed Gaona playing only his seventh game in goal, saved the shot to give Valley (11-5-6) the victory.

Valley will face Saddleback in the first round at 3 p.m. Friday. The Falcons beat Saddleback, 3-1, in a nonleague game this season.

In the other Division I wild-card game:

Capistrano Valley 4, Paramount 0--Eric Johnson was a one-man show, scoring three goals to lead Capistrano Valley.

Johnson, who was assisted by Phil Mannoliti, Zack Brennan and J.T. Richmond on his three goals, scored twice in the first half and midway through the second half. Phil Latini, a junior, scored Capistrano Valley’s fourth goal in the last minutes of the game. Senior Mark Greco had two saves to earn the shutout.

The Cougars (17-6-3) will next face Palos Verdes Peninsula, which is the top-seeded team, at 3 p.m. Friday in the first round.