Photo by Jared Dort/Yuma Sun Defensive captain Jesus Silva (5) shouts out instructions after Mountain Point's second goal of the game during the first half.
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Mountain Pointe eliminates San Luis
February 02, 2011 11:19 PM
Mountain Pointe made the most of its scoring chances against San Luis, scoring on a pair of set plays minutes apart in the first half.
San Luis continually assaulted the Pride goal, but couldn't finish in the Class 5A-I Boys Soccer State Playoff on Wednesday at Raiders Field.
The end result was a 2-1 loss for San Luis despite the Sidewinders dominance up front, particularly with their backs to the wind in the second half.
San Luis coach Tim Conroy said the first opening-round loss in the program's history was very disappointing.
“That's been our problem lately. We haven't been finishing,” Conroy said. “We scored a bunch of goals early on this year, but our last four games we've had four goals. You're not going to beat a lot of teams if you score one goal. We just weren't good enough tonight.”
He added the Sidewinders (11-3) were playing without starters Erik Luzanilla and Martin Orozco, who were benched for disciplinary reasons. He said it “probably” had an effect on the team.
But Conroy also added that the performance by goalkeepers Jorge Gutierrez and Javier Espinoza factored into the loss.
“Both were big,” Conroy said. “We knew going into this year that we were inexperienced in goal. Fortunately we've been able to get through it all year long. But it came back to bite us tonight.
The Pride (8-5) scored their first goal with 20:29 left on a free kick by Lucas Martinez. He took the direct shot from about 40 yards out on the right side, aiming for the top left corner of the net.
Gutierrez, the starting goalie, mistimed his leap and the ball went off his fingertips and in.
It took barely three minutes for the Pride to score again, this time when Alex DelGiorno took a pass on a throw-in and put the ball over the head of Vasquez, who took over after the first goal.
“In a game like this, with these conditions, set plays make a difference,” Mountain Pointe coach Bryan Sabato said. “A lot of our goals were on set pieces this year. But we were just fortunate to get that second goal. We were pushing for it, and fortunately we got it and held on to win.”
Despite playing into the wind in the first half, the Sidewinders had two golden chances late to score on Kevin Kadisak. Leonardo Moreno had a shot go wide past a pulled-out Kadisak with 12:52 left, then missed another on a cross from Rex Glenn with 10 minutes left.
In the second half, Moreno and Edgar Rincon both had plenty of looks in front of the net, but neither could connect.
“Anytime you go up 2-0 at halftime, it puts more pressure on the other team,” Sabato said. “You can see San Luis came out with a whole lot of urgency in the second half. We were able to battle the elements, battle a very talented San Luis team and squeak out a win.”
San Luis drew to within one with 18:28 left. Rudy Cerda took a deflection off a corner kick by Edgar Rincon and pushed it by Kadisak.
Mountain Pointe advances to play Kofa on Saturday at a time and site to be determined.
San Luis continually assaulted the Pride goal, but couldn't finish in the Class 5A-I Boys Soccer State Playoff on Wednesday at Raiders Field.
The end result was a 2-1 loss for San Luis despite the Sidewinders dominance up front, particularly with their backs to the wind in the second half.
San Luis coach Tim Conroy said the first opening-round loss in the program's history was very disappointing.
“That's been our problem lately. We haven't been finishing,” Conroy said. “We scored a bunch of goals early on this year, but our last four games we've had four goals. You're not going to beat a lot of teams if you score one goal. We just weren't good enough tonight.”
He added the Sidewinders (11-3) were playing without starters Erik Luzanilla and Martin Orozco, who were benched for disciplinary reasons. He said it “probably” had an effect on the team.
But Conroy also added that the performance by goalkeepers Jorge Gutierrez and Javier Espinoza factored into the loss.
“Both were big,” Conroy said. “We knew going into this year that we were inexperienced in goal. Fortunately we've been able to get through it all year long. But it came back to bite us tonight.
The Pride (8-5) scored their first goal with 20:29 left on a free kick by Lucas Martinez. He took the direct shot from about 40 yards out on the right side, aiming for the top left corner of the net.
Gutierrez, the starting goalie, mistimed his leap and the ball went off his fingertips and in.
It took barely three minutes for the Pride to score again, this time when Alex DelGiorno took a pass on a throw-in and put the ball over the head of Vasquez, who took over after the first goal.
“In a game like this, with these conditions, set plays make a difference,” Mountain Pointe coach Bryan Sabato said. “A lot of our goals were on set pieces this year. But we were just fortunate to get that second goal. We were pushing for it, and fortunately we got it and held on to win.”
Despite playing into the wind in the first half, the Sidewinders had two golden chances late to score on Kevin Kadisak. Leonardo Moreno had a shot go wide past a pulled-out Kadisak with 12:52 left, then missed another on a cross from Rex Glenn with 10 minutes left.
In the second half, Moreno and Edgar Rincon both had plenty of looks in front of the net, but neither could connect.
“Anytime you go up 2-0 at halftime, it puts more pressure on the other team,” Sabato said. “You can see San Luis came out with a whole lot of urgency in the second half. We were able to battle the elements, battle a very talented San Luis team and squeak out a win.”
San Luis drew to within one with 18:28 left. Rudy Cerda took a deflection off a corner kick by Edgar Rincon and pushed it by Kadisak.
Mountain Pointe advances to play Kofa on Saturday at a time and site to be determined.
