Atwater soccer blasts past Ponderosa in section quarterfinals

ATWATER The nerves that plagued the Atwater boys soccer team in their playoff opener two nights ago disappeared.

Two first-half goals will do that.

The Falcons looked like a true top seed in defeating No. 9 Ponderosa 3-1 in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II quarterfinals on Thursday night at Falcon Field. Atwater will host No. 4 Vintage on Wednesday in the semifinals.

“We definetely played with less of the nerves than we played with on Tuesday,” Atwater coach Jimmy Brewer said. “Getting early goals helped relieve the pressure that might have been there. We were able to play from a lead in the first half.”

Atwater had to overcome a size disadvantage against a tall Ponderosa team. It made defending set pieces tough for the scrappy Falcons. Brewer and his team went into the game blind without any scouting report.

“It’s a little bit scary,” Brewer said. “Our guys are out warming up before the game and Ponderosa’s guys walked on to the field and I could see my guys checking them out. They said, ‘Coach they’re big.’ I said, ‘Yes, they are. They’re from the mountains. They eat steak every day.’”

The Bruins (10-9-2) were playing without starting goalie Max Hall, who was forced to sit out after receiving a red card in Ponderosa’s 2-1 win over Grant in the first round.

Atwater was able to capitalize on a little indecision from backup goalie Patrick Hickey.

In the eighth minute, Atwater’s Luis Lopez lofted a touch pass over the defensive line to a streaking Eduardo Cebrero. Hickey came out of the goal late and Cebrero beat him to the ball at the top of the box and scored easily to give the Falcons (24-2-3) an early 1-0 lead.

“I was running from the left sideline and I cut in,” Cebrero said. “I heard Luis call my name and yell go. He gave me a nice pass with the perfect pace. I saw the goalie come out and I used my right foot to tip it in.”

The Falcons caught a break on their second goal seven minutes later. Christian Olguin fired a shot from the right wing that Hickey appeared to stop, but the ball trickled out of his arm and into the goal to give Atwater a 2-0 lead.

Atwater had scoring opportunities all night against Ponderosa’s offside trap defensive scheme. The Bruins defenders were holding their line close to midfield, trying to catch Atwater’s forwards offsides.

However, the Falcons sent passes through and over the Ponderosa defense to set up one-on-one scoring opportunities against Hickey.

Atwater had chances to run away from the Bruins but misfired on breakaway shots.

“If we play it smart I like our chances against the defense,” Brewer said. “It takes some good timing to run that defense effectively. If you mess up you leave one guy on an island.”

Travis Coan did pull Ponderosa within a goal when he scored on a free kick from 25 yards out in the 52nd minute.

Atwater answered 10 minutes later, as Lopez put the finishing touches on a solid performance as he beat the Ponderosa defensive line and caught Hickey out of the goal too early. The Atwater junior calmly chipped a shot over Hickey’s head that bounced into the goal to give the Falcons a 3-1 lead.

“The ball was bouncing, the best choice was to put it over (Hickey) instead of putting it to the side,” Lopez said. “I had a previous play and I hit that over the crossbar and this time I was like, I’m not going to miss this.”

The Falcons reach the semifinals for the first time since 2006.

▪ Livingston 1, Placer 0, at Auburn – The Wolves’ Ricardo Garcia Limon scored the only goal on a corner kick in in the final minute of the game to lift No. 5 Livingston to a win in the Division IV playoffs. Livingston will face top-seeded Galt in the semifinals on Wednesday.

This story was originally published November 6, 2014 at 10:19 PM with the headline "Atwater soccer blasts past Ponderosa in section quarterfinals."