DOWNEY — Carpinteria’s magical postseason ride came to a crashing end on Saturday, as the Warriors were stopped 1-0 by Baldwin Park in the CIF Division V title game at Warren High School in Downey.
The Braves’ Andres Gonzalez provided the game-winner for Baldwin Park by breaking a scoreless tie in the 70th minute. The Braves won their first CIF title in soccer.
“It felt incredible,” Gonzalez said of scoring the game-winner on such a big stage. “I was like, ‘this is it, we got it. The first CIF in school history.'”
“Man, it felt amazing.”
The Braves were able to stop a Warriors team coming into the match on a serious hot streak.
The Warriors were winners of 10 straight, having not lost since January 24. The Warriors beat No. 1-seed La Canada in the quarterfinals before soundly defeating Tri-Valley League rival Oaks Christian in the semifinals.
“We’re disapointed we didn’t win but we had a great season,” said Carpinteria senior Alfredo Maya. “It’s not every year you see Carp go to the final and this year we did it.”
The Warriors’ season does have more life, however, as Carpinteria (20-4-3) will play in the CIF SoCal Regional tournament that starts on Tuesday.
“We’re still making history. We’re the first team at Carp High to make it to Regionals so we should be proud and the community should be proud,” said Warriors head coach Daniel Torres.
Gonzalez’s goal came in the 70th minute. With neither team giving up much in the middle of the field, it took a defensive mistake that Gonzalez took advantage of for the score.
Gonzalez was in the right place at the right time, gaining possession between Carpinteria defenders in front of the Warrior net. Warriors keeper Erik Rojas came off his line in an attempt to disrupt but Gonzalez poked it past Rojas inside the near post.
“My teammate had the ball. I’m not quite sure if he tried passing it or taking the shot but I saw it deflect off the defender,” described Gonzalez. “I saw an opening and I took it. He was holding onto my shirt but I was playing hard.”
The Warriors were unable to get many chances, if any, of the same quality.
Luis Cisneros thought he had a good chance at equalizing a few minutes after Gonzalez’s goal – thanks to a nice pass from Edwin Elizarraras – but Baldwin Park poked it away at the last second.
The Warriors also thought they might have missed an opportunity in the first half when John Requejo was dragged down in the penalty area and the whistle sounded. The call ended up going against Carpinteria.
In the first half, Rojas made two big saves in the 15th and 40th minutes. Defender Mohammed Mehai blocked a point-blank shot in the 40th minute.
The championship win improves Baldwin Park’s record to 23-3-2.
Carpenteria was an awsome team to beat. We have been in their shoes before when we lost against Salesian. We wish them nothing but the best!
It was a hard fought match on both sides. Congratulations thanks for showing class in victory!
Good Luck in the regionals.
I don’t know what game you guys were watching, but I saw a one-sided officiating crew single-handedly deny Carp a penalty kick in the first half, make flagrant ‘non-calls’ thru out the game, and then make animated ‘calls’ against the Warriors that were such ticky-tack fouls, when the B.P. team did the same thing, NOTHING was called, time after time — worst officiating I’ve seen in a CIF playoff came in 20 years — I’ve seen better officiating in an AYSO game….
The “Baldwin Park 14” 1 – Carpinteria 0
Come on man….Bad no calls either way. Why is it everytime we lose we gotta blame the officiating. Give the other team credit, they were tough and actually took it to us in the second half. We should be questioning why we weren’t the same team in the second half!? Not just the officiating but could it be that BP had something to do with it? Do you really think the officials werre from Baldwin Park? The two teams were equal in talent, I like our boys more, but in sports the best team doesn’t always win. Luck may come into play and today they were luckier.
Taking no credit away from BP – they are a great team — but the truth is, the officials called it one-side —- no mistaking that . . . not the first time it has happened — won’t be the last….
I was at the same game. A couple of times our guys tripped up their player or held on to them and we didn’t get called. Actually thought our guy could’ve gotten a red card or a couple another yellow after the little skirmish so early in the match. Refs are human just like the players they miss calls like we miss passes or shots all a part of the contest. The difference in the match came when their guy fought though the hold and got to the ball. I saw quite a few times where it looked like we might’ve taken a dive. Instead maybe if we would’ve fought through it we may have scored. No room for snivelling in sports especially after both teams left it on the field. A good team won yesterday and the results could differe every other time we play them. I’ve seen AYSO officiating and no way are they better! My point is with over 2000 students and always being in the playoffs WHATARE THEY DOING IN D-5!!!
And furthermore, I hate it when they misspell Carpinteria….But Daniel is working to get everyone to know who we are and where we’re from and hopefully in time they can learn to spell our name correctly or just refer to us as Carp the little town with big time high school soccer! We as adults set the examples for the players who work so hard. Let’s root our boys on to the regionals and show some class regardless of the outcome.
great season to carp high! soccer team! you did well and represented the school with class. all the best to each of you in the future!
Nothing worse then reading sour grapes from losing teams and their fans who blame the refs for their defeat. to “the warrior”–you lost the game–show some class and stfu.
gracias soccerfanatic…well said! nuff already!