Local club loses, 4-2, in soccer title match
The inaugural Development Academy Under-17/18 championship game was lights out -- literally.
Thirty seconds into the first of two mandatory overtimes -- no golden goals in this format -- the lights on the field of the Home Depot Center went out.
The game, which was being broadcast live on ESPNU, was tied, 2-2, at the time of the power outage.
La Canada-based LAFC, which played the second half with only 10 players -- the result of a player getting red carded in the first half -- was a minute away from capturing the championship when the referee awarded a penalty kick to the Baltimore Bays.
Andrew Bulls took advantage and beat goalkeeper Giovanni Castaneda to send the game into extra periods. Bulls scored again about six minutes into the overtime to give his team a 3-2 lead, and John Raley then scored in the second overtime in a 4-2 Baltimore victory.
When the game started, the spotlight was on Bays forward Chris Agorsor, the Gatorade national player of the year. Most of the night, however, belonged to a group of kids from the San Gabriel Valley.
Agorsor didn’t disappoint the standing-room-only crowd, scoring on a terrific goal in the 30th minute to tie the score, 1-1. Agorsor, who didn’t start the game because of an apparent MCL strain, showed no signs of an injury as he out-jumped a defender to head the ball into the back of the net.
The player turning heads was LAFC forward Kevin Mejia of Pasadena, who scored both goals, including one for a 2-1 lead in the 67th minute.
LAFC was not a favorite to make it to the championship game when the development academy season started in October, but the club won the strong Southern California Conference ahead of Real SoCal, Club Pateadores, Irvine Strikers and Chivas USA, some of the nation’s top youth clubs.
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