Birmingham routs Taft, will face its rival in final
Birmingham boys soccer has the chance to redeem itself from last year's loss in the finals and win its fifth LA City Section championship after the Patriots beat Taft 4-1 at home Wednesday afternoon in the Division I semifinals.
“It feels really good that we get a shot at winning the ring again,” coach EB Madha said. “We thought last year we worked hard to get it and to lose it the way we did, we wanted another shot and so this was really important.”
Birmingham (19-1-3) will play El Camino Real, which beat Palisades on penalty kicks in the semifinals, in the Division I championship this weekend at a place and time that's yet to be determined.
Oscar Vargas scored three goals in the match — each with Cristiano Rinaldo's signature celebration afterward. Birmingham peppered the Taft defense with shots throughout the first half, but wasn't able to break through until the 31st minute.
Steven Ramos crossed the ball to Vargas, who scored on a header just inside the top of the penalty area.
“(Taft) left a big gap behind their right back and I knew Steven was going to go in so I made the run into the space,” Vargas said. “Steven made a beautiful cross.”
Anthony Macedo added a goal just before halftime at the 39th minute on a short, direct shot from left side of the net.
Vargas added two more goals in the 42nd and 47th minute to put Birmingham up 4-0. Taft's leading goal scorer Ryan Quinn recorded his 26th goal of the season roughly five minutes before time expired to prevent the shutout.
The Toreadors (15-12-1) were celebrating afterward regardless of the loss. It was the first time since 2009 that the program reached the Division I semifinals.
“The core of the team is sophomores,” Quinn said. “So seeing that, and then they're going to mature into next year being a year older, having the training, watching us fight and play is just going to fire them up and really show them what they can do next year.”
Taft is the only team to score a goal against Birmingham in the playoffs.