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Monday, Nov. 16, 2009

Jesuit soccer crowned after stopping Golden Valley

STOCKTON -- Mike Gomez sobbed into a teammate's shoulder, turning away from the crowd, hiding his tear-stained cheeks.

Memo Ramirez held a Sac-Joaquin Section plaque in one hand, shiny and new, wishing it were a blue felt banner instead.

And Hugo Hernandez, one of the heroes in the Golden Valley boys soccer team's magical playoff run, tried to find the silver-lining in the pain.

All that pain.

It wouldn't come easy.

"I'm kind of sad," Hernandez said, pausing briefly, "but...

"No Golden Valley has come this far. It's like coach says: 'You can't cry. All you can do is think about how far we got.'"

The run came to a screeching halt on Saturday afternoon.

The first team in school history to reach a Sac-Joaquin Section semifinal and championship game, Golden Valley will have to wait a little longer for its first blue banner.

Jesuit, the resident champ, just wasn't ready to pass the torch, beating Golden Valley 3-0 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.

"There have only been three CCC teams to make it to a section final," Golden Valley coach Lee Shaw said. "When you look at the section records, they don't list quarterfinalists. Or semifinalists. They list champions and runners-up.

"Later on, they'll be able to point to that and say that was us. They don't realize it now, but later on, they'll be able to look back and feel like the champions that I know they are."

The shock-and-awe started before the opening whistle.

Jesuit sweeper Matt Thayer and goalie Jake Feener trotted out to the pregame captains' meeting donning neon jerseys -- a far cry from the school's red and gold colors.

Thayer and the other field players wore a bright green top, while Feener's was orange. Together, they looked like creatures from another planet warming up along the visitor's sideline.

And with its talent, size and speed of play, Jesuit gave spectators no reason to think otherwise.

Jesuit dominated the first half, outshooting Golden Valley 17-5 and scoring twice off corner kicks.

Andrew Mills and A.J. Agha scored within 14 minutes of each other, staking Jesuit to a comfortable 2-0 halftime lead.

"They looked like a college team out there," Shaw said. "And it's my understanding that this is one of the smaller teams they've had in recent years. Man, I'd hate to see those (other) teams. They were muscular and tall."

And quite decorated, too.

The championship is Jesuit's eighth overall -- a section best -- and the victory likely means it'll retain or improve upon its No. 12 ranking in ESPN's FAB50 national poll.

But for all of Jesuit's highlights Saturday -- and for that matter, this season -- it wasn't perfect.

Golden Valley could have very easily tied the game in the second half.

Timid and unable to string together more than three passes at time in the first half, Golden Valley turned up the pressure in the final 40 minutes.

Gomez harassed the left side of Jesuit's defense with his speed, and Hernandez and Elias Ruiz became the aggressors in the midfield.

It led to several scoring chances, frustrating Jesuit into three second-half yellow cards.

Twice Golden Valley had shots bang off the framework.

Ruiz had a one-timed, 18-yard shot skip through the box, past Feener and off the far post in the 43rd minute.

Later, with 13 minutes left in the match, sophomore Daniel Byrne missed his first penalty shot of the season.

Hernandez was pulled down from behind in the box by Will Walker while trying to collect a loose ball. After a brief deliberation, the center official pointed toward the penalty stripe.

Shaw tapped his ace.

Byrne had made all eight of his penalty kicks coming into the game, but caught the post with his ninth. The sophomore midfielder fell to his knees after the miss.

"Unlucky," Shaw said. "I feel bad for him because I know the type of player he is.

"It's a game of inches. We feel a bit unlucky."

Jesuit was at its best on corner kicks and set pieces.

Positioned on the near post, Mills, a big, bulky target, flicked a corner kick from Walker over his head and past Ramirez (five saves) in the 12th minute to give Jesuit a 1-0 lead.

It was only the second regulation goal Golden Valley had allowed in four playoff games, but it wouldn't be its last.

Agha, another 6-footer, made it 2-0 in the 26th minute, bouncing a header into the back of the net.

Gabe Padilla capped the scoring with a beautiful free kick from just outside the penalty box with about a minute left in the match.

The loss was Golden Valley's first in 11 games. It had gone 10-0-1 in that span, including dramatic shootout victories over Stagg and Yolo Davis in the playoffs.

"For a while, we couldn't lose," Hernandez said. "Unfortunately, today, we did."

Division V

And the rubber match goes to Patterson, by a shove.

In a matchup of Western Athletic Conference rivals, Patterson survived a game that featured hips, elbows, verbal jousts and two red cards, beating Hilmar 3-1 for the Division V title.

The two teams were 1-1-1 in head-to-head meetings entering the game, with bad feelings brewing along the way. Hilmar scored first on Jason Pedro's direct kick from the right wing in the 19th minute, but Patterson equalized four minutes later and got the go-ahead goal in the 53rd minute.

James Burns is sports editor of the Sun-Star. He can be reached at jburns@mercedsun-star.com.