El Camino Real Puts One Over on Monroe

Staring down a 2-0 deficit with 10 minutes to play, El Camino Real High staged an improbable rally Wednesday and beat Monroe, 3-2, in overtime at El Camino Real in the second round of the City Section boys’ soccer playoffs.

The Conquistadores, who last season were seeded 17th before upsetting top-seeded Reseda in the second round and advancing to the title game, were very nearly the upset victims this time.

“After their second goal we were like, ‘Oh no, we’re going to lose,’ ” said El Camino Real’s Jose Rivera-Otero, who scored the winning goal. “But the ball started falling for us.”

El Camino Real, seeded fourth, will host fifth-seeded Banning on Friday in a quarterfinal. The Conquistadores have a 21-game unbeaten streak at home.

Until the end, El Camino Real had nothing to show for being the better team. The Conquistadores (16-5-2) pinned the 13th-seeded Vikings (12-3-4) in their own end for the first 10 minutes, but could not get off a shot on goal.

Monroe scored on its first shot, in the 12th minute, when Antonio Roman’s 40-yard free kick was headed in by Danny Corrales.

The Vikings seemingly had the game in hand when they scored 25 minutes into the second half. Corrales and Conquistadore defender Jason Burbidge raced toward the El Camino Real goal in pursuit of a long clear from the Monroe penalty area.

The two jostled before Corrales threw down Burbidge and beat goalkeeper Karl Mayr for his 10th goal in eight games since moving from Costa Rica in the middle of the season. No foul was called.

“The whole team gathered around the ref but he wasn’t going to take it back,” Rivera-Otero said. “So we decided to concentrate and get back into the game.”

Rivera-Otero started the comeback by heading in a 25-yard free kick from Kellen McLaughlin in the 70th minute.

The Conquistadores sent the game to overtime when Jimmy Choto headed in Ian Kogan’s throw-in with four minutes to play.

Two minutes into the 20-minute overtime, Kogan again found Choto with a throw. This time the ball was sent on to Rivera-Otero, whose shot from the middle of the box gave him his 23rd goal.

“I tip my hat to them, they put the pressure on us by going all-out,” Monroe Coach Elias Andrade said. “That last goal was too quick. It did us in.”