Woodbridge Overcomes Edison

Top-seeded Woodbridge survived a spectacular performance by Edison sophomore goalkeeper Joey Balbas and advanced to its second consecutive Southern Section Division II boys’ soccer quarterfinal with a 1-0 overtime victory Tuesday at Edison High.

Woodbridge forward Mark Oehlman scored the game-winner a minute into the second 10-minute overtime period when he smashed the rebound of his miss past Balbas at point-blank range. Oehlman set up his two shots by juking a defender on the sideline.

“It tipped off my right hand,” Balbas said. “I thought my guys were going to clear it, but it didn’t happen.”

Balbas’ last save was his 14th. Most of them came from inside 10 yards.

“He made save after save after save,” Woodbridge Coach Jon Szczuka said. “I have not seen a goalie demonstration like that in a long time. I think they got energized off his play. I was impressed.”

Balbas would have been more impressed with himself had his team pulled off the upset, but he was proud of his team’s performance.

“We all kind of came together,” Balbas said. “We knew it would be a challenge. They have talent all over the field. We didn’t start very good, but we made a game of it.”

Edison (15-7-3) was outshot, 18-8, but it outplayed Woodbridge (22-1-2) in the middle of the field much of the second half and created several scoring opportunities. Edison’s best chance came on Devin Kato’s cross to Danny Collins in the 60th minute. With Woodbridge goalkeeper Doug Allan out of position, Collins’ diving header sailed wide.

Woodbridge kept pressure on Balbas throughout, but never more intensely than with 15 minutes left in regulation, when Oehlman and Roy Chingirian fired hard shots at Balbas from 10 yards.

“We had lots of opportunities, but nothing went in,” said Oehlman, who scored his 16th goal. “[Balbas] came up big for Edison. But we knew if we kept shooting, one would eventually go in.”

Afterward, Szczuka was more relieved than excited.

“We were scared coming in here,” he said. “We looked at their scores and saw they had a lot of close games. We haven’t had too many close games. For us to step up in a moment like this shows a lot of maturity.”

Woodbridge will play Oxnard Rio Mesa on Thursday.

In another Division II game:

Huntington Beach 3, Cerritos 1--Dan Espinoza scored twice and his twin brother Matt scored once for host Huntington Beach (17-7-2), which will play Santa Barbara Thursday. Cerritos is 18-4-3.