Los Alamitos Falls Prey to Mud, Millikan in Overtime

All season, Los Alamitos’ boys’ soccer team lived by its strong defense. But Wednesday in the Southern Section Division I semifinals--on a narrow, sloppy field--the Griffins’ defense fell on its face.

Second-seeded Long Beach Millikan rallied twice in the second half and scored with five minutes left in overtime to beat Los Alamitos, 3-2, before about 800 mud-soaked fans at Millikan. Millikan (26-1-4) will meet top-seeded Dana Hills in the finals, at 10 a.m. Saturday at La Mirada High.

Millikan tied it, 2-2, with 10 minutes left in regulation when Jay Faulk slipped a loose ball by past Griffins’ keeper Jamie Ackerman, who got his hands on the ball but couldn’t stop it. Sigifredo Orozco scored his second of the game, five minutes into the second 10-minute overtime, when he volleyed in an Adam Sontag corner kick. Had Orozco not scored, any one of his three teammates standing next to him probably would have.

“We made some mistakes today on defense we haven’t made all year,” Los Alamitos Coach Trey Scharlin said.

In 10 Sunset League games, Los Alamitos (19-3-5) gave up only four goals. But Wednesday, the conditions contributed to the Griffins’ sloppy play in the back. But it didn’t seem to bother Millikan as much.

“They play an ugly style and this was an ugly field,” Scharlin said. “They don’t play much in the midfield. They send it over the top and they were catching us running back and forth.”

The sloppy conditions also slowed down Los Alamitos’ speedy forward Michael Munoz, who had few touches in the second half.

“About the only thing we could hope for on this field was getting a lucky bounce, and we didn’t get them today,” said Munoz, who has signed with California.

But even though the Griffins couldn’t play their game, they appeared to have the game won.

Cameron Kolovos scored in the 10th minute on a beautiful hooking free kick from the top of the penalty box.

After Millikan tied it in the 51st minute on Orozco’s first goal, junior midfielder Jon Bornstein put Los Alamitos ahead, 2-1, in the 60th minute when he knocked in a corner kick by Kolovos that deflected off Josh Eisenberg.

But the lead didn’t last long.

“Deep down, I knew we’d come back,” Long Beach Millikan Coach Rod Petkovic said. “We’ve been down all season in games. These kids have made believers of me.”