Boys’ Soccer: Edison falls in PKs
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LAKE FOREST — The day before El Toro High played host to Edison on Thursday, Samuel Martinez brought an old newspaper to practice. He wanted to show it to assistant coach Carlos Barrios, to remind him of the last time he and El Toro faced Edison.
The article has a photo of Martinez celebrating with his teammates. It was a big moment from two years ago, when El Toro scored a golden goal to beat Edison in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals.
“I hope I score,” Martinez told Barrios, who believed the senior was just messing around as he usually does.
Martinez was not. He found the back of the net against Edison, and he and El Toro denied Edison another trip to a finale.
This time, the two schools with the same mascot (Chargers) played for a chance to advance to the CIF Southern California Regional Division I championship.
Regulation could not determine a winner in each of the two recent instances the programs have met in a semifinal at El Toro.
El Toro won in overtime the last time. This time around, El Toro edged Edison in penalty kicks, 5-4.
El Toro is used to going to penalties. In the section playoffs, El Toro won in the second round at home against top-seeded Los Angeles Cathedral and in the finals against No. 2 Redlands East Valley at Corona High, both times via penalty kicks.
It was no surprise to Barrios that El Toro would come through after the teams were scoreless during 80 minutes of regulation and 15 minutes of overtime. For a 23-year-old like Barrios to have that much confidence says a lot.
El Toro was without its coach, Shawn Watts. Barrios said he filled in for Watts, who missed the contest because he was out of the state.
Barrios, an Estancia High graduate, was thankful that Martinez delivered.
Martinez converted the go-ahead penalty kick and goalkeeper Mac Hutchins made a save, allowing No. 4 El Toro (17-10) to reach the CIF SoCal Regional final against No. 6 Paramount (22-5-2).
Both El Toro and Paramount were even in their respective semifinals, after 95 minutes of play. They both survived penalty kicks.
El Toro and Paramount now get to see each other for a third time this season. They split the past two meetings, and the next will be at El Toro on Saturday.
Paramount beat host No. 2 Granada Hills, 4-3, in penalty kicks to move on to a CIF SoCal Regional for the third time in the top division.
The top two seeds won’t be in the championship.
Two days after traveling to San Diego to upset No. 1 St. Augustine, 3-1, No. 8 Edison (21-6-1) couldn’t win again on the road. It had its chances, and the best one came after goalkeeper Thiago Costa stopped his second shot in the shootout.
With the teams even at 3-3, all Edison had to do was convert its next penalty kick and it was moving on to the CIF SoCal Regional championship for the first time. But Ben Spetner’s shot went just wide of the left post.
The miss kept El Toro’s season alive. Javier Gonzalez made his penalty kick to put El Toro ahead, 4-3, and Brian Piscopo produced for Edison to tie it.
Then it was Martinez’s turn to take his shot and he buried it to the left. Edison’s Jared Velazquez walked up for his chance from 12 yards out, and Hutchins went to his left and made the save.
“It’s penalty kicks and anything can happen,” said Edison Coach Charlie Breneman, who led a senior-laden team to a Sunset League title and the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs. “We’ve been practicing [penalty kicks] and we were doing pretty well in practice. We knew Thiago would save a couple like he did. That’s what he does. This is what he’s good at. We knew he would save them. We just needed to take care of the chances we had.”
Costa, who started at keeper with Mitchell Wilson out of town with his club team, also made a penalty kick.
But Edison was involved in penalty kicks for the first time this season. And it was unable to convert three of its chances, the first one, the fifth one and the seventh one.
Hutchins had a lot to do with two of them, as the senior stood in the way of Edison. Hutchins helped El Toro qualify for the CIF SoCal final for the first time in the program’s history.
“We have probably the best keeper in the state,” Barrios said. “He has blocked five or six PKs already in [the postseason].”
Twitter: @ByDCP
