There are times in soccer when a bouncing ball can be more lethal than a blazing free kick.
Cate?s boys soccer fell victim to a couple of bad bounces and ran out of time in its comeback effort to reach the CIF Finals for the third straight year on Tuesday.
Division 6 top-seeded and undefeated Carter-Rialto defeated the Rams, 3-2, converting a penalty kick after a ball bounced off the arm of a Rams player in the box and scoring the eventual game winner when a bouncing ball deflected off a defender?s leg and into the goal.
Down 3-1 with 20 minutes to play, Cate put on a furious rally. Joshua Yaro scored off a cross from Iman Fardghassemi in the 73rd minute and the Rams continued to pressure Carter?s defense. But goalkeeper Moises Rodriquez made a couple of stops on Geoffrey Acheampong and the Lions managed to hold on and end Cate?s season.
“We did all we could,” said the Georgetown-bound Yaro, who continually joined the Cate attack from his center back position. “We worked hard as a team and we didn?t give up, and we fought hard to the final whistle, and that?s something most teams don?t have when they?re losing in games like this.”
The Rams (15-3-2) were trying to reach their first Division 6 final after winning back-to-back Division 7 crowns.
Despite the loss, Cate coach Peter Mack said his team left everything on the field.
?I couldn’t have asked for any more effort or determination than our guys gave,? he said. ?But then again, effort has never been a problem for us. This is as gritty and hard-nosed a team as I have ever coached. It has been a privilege to take the field with them and represent Cate.?
Carter (23-0-5), struck first in the back-and-forth match. In the 12th minute, Ricardo de Rueda knocked down a Cate clearing pass and ripped a beautiful, left-footed ball from 22 yards that curled inside the near post.
The Rams answered seven minutes later. After Rodriguez blocked a shot at the far post following a corner kick, the ball was knocked out wide to Yaro. He crossed it to a wide-open Justin Kim and Kim buried a shot from 12 yards to tie the score at 1-1.
Mack was excited to see Kim score
“He?s taken his lumps, and he?s had such a great senior year,” the coach said. “He?s been a great teammate. I?m so happy to see him get his due. I thought how fantastic is it that he got a goal in the semifinals. That was just great.”
Cate goalkeeper Keller Mochel and Yaro made two huge plays to keep the score even at halftime. In the 26th minute, Mochel dropped a long ball but quickly dived to recover it with Carter?s Ruben Gonzalez breathing down his neck.
Yaro scrambled behind Mochel in the 30th minute and made a diving kick save on the goal line of a shot by Heriberto Lucero.
Then came the bad bounces. The hand-ball violation happened in the 49th minute. On the PK, Juan Magana stepped up and beat Mochel with a low shot to the goalkeeper?s right to give the Lions a 2-1 lead.
The second bad hop came in the 59th minute on a Guillermo Duran free kick from the left flank. The ball bounced across the goalmouth, struck a Cate player in the leg and redirected into the goal, giving Carter a 3-1 advantage.
“He placed it perfectly for whomever was there,” Carter coach Dario Navarro said. “We weren?t there, yet luckily (Duran) was able to hit it in.”
“It?s a bummer,” Yaro said. “We gave away an own goal, and that?s part of playing.”
Said Mack: ?That?s the part that?s stinging the most, although I told my kids, ?Look, they?re a good team. They put pressure on us, they got good shots, they were creative, they were fast, they were strong. We shouldn?t feel bad about that stuff. But the fact is we were right there knocking at the door. We just couldn?t quite get it done.?”
Cate pushed hard and cut the deficit to one on Yaro?s goal.
But the Rams couldn?t come up with an equalizer and were bounced out of the Southern Section playoffs by the top team in the division
“You?re talking about the best team in Division 6,” Mack pointed out. “They haven?t lost a game and there?s a reason. To come back from two goals in 19 minutes, that?s a tall order and we almost pulled it off.”
Cate’s season may not be over. The team will decide later this week if it wants to petition for a spot in next week?s CIF Regional Tournament.
