Ganesha wins shootout over Rancho Cucamonga

Chaidez makes decisive save in penalty kicks

proved it,” Chaidez said. “If we can play like a family, like a team, then we can keep moving on.”

Damien Aceves scored his 10th goal of the season, but Rancho Cucamonga (12-9-3) could not find a second over 100 minutes as its six-match unbeaten streak was snapped.

“We were trying to get redemption after we lost last year to them,” Rancho Cucamonga coach Matt Garner said. “We wanted revenge tonight, but we just came up short.”

The Cougars have not scored more than one goal in three playoff matches in three seasons under Garner.

“With the nerves and the pressure and everything, it’s different in the playoffs,” Garner said.

Ganesha’s Jose Partida peppered Rancho Cucamonga goalkeeper Israel Perez with multiple shots over the first 40 minutes, but the match was scoreless at halftime.

Rancho Cucamonga came into the second round with five different players having scored five or more goals this season. The Cougars applied pressure to begin the second half, with Diego Arreola winning the ball and playing it up the left side to Javier Vasquez, whose shot was saved by Chaidez, but Aceves was there to clean up the rebound for a 1-0 lead.

“It just comes down to finishing and getting the right opportunities,” Garner said. “We know each other fairly well by now.”

Less than 10 minutes later, Anthony Rodriguez tucked in the equalizer for Ganesha from a free kick by Partida that skipped through the penalty area to the back post.

“This team has a lot of resiliency and there’s a lot of character here,” Ganesha coach Damian Galvan said. “Even when they (the Cougars) scored that first one, I knew we were still in it.”

Rancho Cucamonga had a pair of shots stopped by Chaidez during the two, 10-minute overtime periods, and so a match winner was determined using kicks from the penalty spot.

Clinging to a 3-2 advantage in the shootout despite teammate Yobani Donis missing Ganesha’s fifth kick high and wide of the football goal post, Chaidez made the save to send the Giants to the section quarterfinals for the first time since they won the CIF State Division V regional title in 2020.

“It’s just a guessing game. Sometimes you guess wrong (and) sometimes you guess right,” Chaidez said. “On the last one I finally guessed right.”