Mater Dei Is Fit to Be Tied

Santa Margarita and Santa Ana Mater Dei highs battled to a 1-1 tie in a Serra League boys’ soccer game Friday, but afterward the reactions from the players and coaches of each team were quite different.

Coach Curt Bauer of visiting Santa Margarita felt fortunate to avoid a loss after his team tied the score on Christian Hanson’s goal with two minutes to play.

Forward Randy Poggio of Mater Dei (15-2-4, 0-0-2 in league) was disappointed that the Monarchs’ upset bid fell short after his 20th goal of the season gave them a 1-0 lead with seven minutes remaining.

“They picked it up after we scored,” Poggio said. “I think we got a little complacent and we weren’t ready for them.”

Santa Margarita (16-2-3, 1-0-1), ranked No. 8 in the region by The Times, controlled the pace of the game for the first 25 minutes of the second half.

But the San Jose State-bound Poggio began to get some high-quality shots on goal after that for the defending Southern Section Division II champions.

He had a header that was wide right with 14 minutes left in the game and his left-footed shot was wide right again, two minutes later.

His goal came five minutes after that when he headed the ball into the lower right-hand corner of the net off a crossing pass from Dee Padilla.

Santa Margarita, the two-time defending league champion, played with a sense of urgency after that.

Tannen Wells had a point-blank shot that was blocked by UCLA-bound goalkeeper Nate Pena with six minutes left in the game, but Pena was unable to stop Hanson’s header off a crossing pass from Wells.

“They should play every minute like it’s their last,” Bauer said, “but they don’t until they get behind.”