Mater Dei Defeats Barons in Shootout

Mater Dei and Fountain Valley scored with ease during regulation Wednesday at the Marina boys’ soccer tournament.

But the shootout was a struggle.

After playing to a 2-2 tie, the Monarchs, who took over the top spot in the county rankings after winning the Puma International trophy Saturday in Tampa, Fla., secured the second-round victory when goalkeeper Nate Pena stopped Matt Fluck’s penalty shot on the Barons’ ninth attempt.

Pena’s save came after teammate Kyle Hutchison scored to make it 4-3 in the shootout.

It was the only ball Pena touched during the shootout, which featured six misses by the seventh-ranked Barons, including three that missed the goal entirely, one that hit the crossbar and another that went off the post.

The Monarchs (15-0-2) weren’t much better converting penalty kicks, but they did make Fountain Valley goalkeeper Kyle Polak work.

Polak made four diving saves in the shootout and watched Brian Orue’s kick sail over the crossbar. Drew Tolman, shooting fifth for the Barons, had a chance to win the shootout after Orue’s miss, but his shot also sailed high.

Fountain Valley’s Jordan Christian also had a chance to win the game two rounds later, but his shot missed high and wide.

Fountain Valley Coach Jason Smith was disappointed with his players’ accuracy during the shootout, but didn’t think it lessened their overall performance.

“A shootout is just another way of flipping the coin to see who wins,” Smith said. “It was no indication of how we played during the game.”

Fountain Valley (5-2-3) led, 2-0, at the half on goals by Ryan Lancaster, his seventh and eighth of the season.

Lancaster scored 10 minutes into the game when a backward pass by Mater Dei took a bad hop over the foot of defender Donald Cadena. Lancaster was in position to take advantage and he nudged the ball past the charging Pena.

Fifteen minutes later, Brian Henry sent a shot toward the Mater Dei goal and Lancaster redirected it past Pena for a 2-0 lead.

Mater Dei answered five minutes into the second half, when Matt Fennell sent a cross through the middle and Nick Miller chipped it into the net from the far post. Fennell then scored on a header off a corner kick, tying the score midway through the second half.

“It was a spectacle wasn’t it?” Mater Dei Coach Martin Stringer said. “We didn’t play well in the first half and Fountain Valley dictated the pace. Either side could have won this game.”

Mater Dei will play eighth-ranked Dana Hills in the third round at 11 a.m. today.