Cid Says El Dorado Is Not Done Yet

El Dorado junior Ignacio Cid had two goals and an assist in the Golden Hawks’ 3-2 victory over South Torrance in a Southern Section Division III quarterfinal boys’ soccer game Thursday at El Dorado. Afterward, Cid sent a message to the remaining teams in the division.

“This is not our goal. Our goal is to hit the finals and win,” Cid said. “That’s all we’re here for. That’s all we want. Whatever gets in our way of that goal is going to go down. We want that goal and we’re going to get there either way.”

The Golden Hawks, who haven’t been shut out this season and have scored one goal only twice, put such a high price on the playoffs that they didn’t come prepared for a few Empire League games. El Dorado’s only two losses were league games against Kennedy (6-1) and Loara (4-2), and the Golden Hawks didn’t secure the league title until the last game of the regular season.

“I think all along we’ve just been looking to get to the playoffs and we didn’t put a real high priority on league and it almost came back to bite us there for a while,” El Dorado Coach Marc Smith said.

El Dorado, which travels to Brea Olinda for a semifinal game Tuesday, gave up a goal in the opening minutes and another in the closing seconds, but in between kept South Torrance on its heels.

The Golden Hawks (25-2-1) tied the score in the 20th minute on a nice header by sophomore Ryan Valdez off a corner kick from Cid. About a minute later, Cid began a run toward the left post and scored with his left foot to give El Dorado a 2-1 lead.

“We’ve got a lot of heart and all we want to do is just win,” Cid said. “A goal at the beginning of the game doesn’t mean nothing.”

Cid had three more good scoring chances in the second half before he got behind the defense and toed a shot over the head of South Torrance goalkeeper Travis Jackson for a 3-1 lead. The goal increased Cid’s single-season school record to 26.

South Torrance finished 24-6-2.

In another Division III game:

Brea Olinda 2, Rosemead Don Bosco 0--Steve Fish scored on a deflection in the 20th minute and Josh Alexander scored on a breakaway in the 65th minute for Brea (22-4). Mark Becher made seven saves, including one on a penalty kick with 10 minutes left in the game, for his 14th shutout.