Falcons fall in regional soccer title match, 3-2
Santa Monica gets revenge with 3-2 state victory
PALMDALE — The Palmdale boys soccer team had come so close to achieving so much that when the final whistle blew Monday night, the Falcons were overcome with emotion.
Palmdale was trying to finish the season with a second CIF championship and complete the season with an undefeated record.
Santa Monica ended those hopes with a 3-2 win at Palmdale High in the CIF Southern California Regional Division 4 Championship.
The Falcons finish with a 17-1-4 record.
“I just don’t got any words for them right now, you know,” Palmdale coach Christian Hernandez said. “It’s heartbreaking, because this is what you work for, home field. It really hurts.
Not really much to say that’s going to make them feel better right now.”
Palmdale had won the CIF Southern Section Division 4 Championship with a 4-1 victory at Santa Monica High on May 28.
“We weren’t mentally ready,” said Palmdale senior Brian Trujillo, a fouryear varsity player. “We weren’t in this game. I guess we came in overconfident and underestimated them and I guess that gave us consequences.”
Santa Monica (13-7) jumped out to an early lead with a goal by senior Ryan Maher on a free kick from 30 yards in the fourth minute.
Palmdale junior Jorge Solorzano tied the match at 1-1 in the 19th minute, when he scored from just a few yards out, splitting a pair of defenders off a pass from Brian Trujillo.
But Santa Monica answered six minutes later, when junior William Berger scored in the 15th minute. The 2-1 Santa Monica lead would stand at halftime.
The game grew more contentious and physical as it wore on.
Midway through the second half,
the referee stopped play so school officials could eject a Santa Monica fan.
The Vikings took a 3-1 lead in the 66th minute as Berger chipped in a loose ball after Palmdale senior goal keeper Jesse Ramos deflected a shot by a Santa Monica player.
“I’ve been noticing the guys have just played a lot of heavy minutes,” Hernandez said. “It seems like we weren’t at our best towards the end, but we were still in games. At the end of the day, they showed today that we needed our legs under us and more energy and we just couldn’t find it at times.”
Palmdale senior Juan Lopez scored in the 75th minute off a pass from Brian Trujillo, but the Falcons were shut out the final several minutes, which included a few minutes of stoppage time.
“It’s hard to take,” Palmdale senior Brian Trujillo said. “You work so hard for a perfect season and tough
to take a loss, especially here at home. It’s tough for me and my guys, because we knew we wanted this and we deserved it. But at the end of the day, we weren’t the better team.”
The Vikings were able
to use their size, as well as physical play to continually break up any Palmdale momentum.
“I think the boys were motivated from the loss against them,” Santa Monica coach Paul Spacey said.
“I think the motivation for us was trying to give them their first loss and our first championship in 13 years.”
In the first meeting between the two teams, Palmdale took a 3-0 lead at halftime.