After a first round win by the Falcons, they head into the South Coast Conference Tournament Semifinals against local rivals the Long Beach Vikings.
In the first half, the Falcons gain control of possession and came out on the attack with Gustavo Arias getting long-distance shots on goalkeeper Abraham Ramirez.
Alberto Gomez prepared to send a ball into the box and was fouled hard by Ulises Grado and was given a yellow card.
The game began to get physical as neither team wanted to give an inch to each other.
Head Coach Benny Artiaga said, “You know what? I mean, Long Beach is a little, that’s their style of play. And that’s fine. We adapt and we need to adapt. And, you know, I mean, nothing we haven’t seen before.”
In the second half, both teams know the next goal will be it for them.
Jose Lopez goes into the box with two Viking defenders on him. He passes to Cesar Solarzano Garcia. He shot and hit the top of the bar as the Viking clear.
Asael Sales makes a great run and centers to Edwin Rodriguez to head it in to and beat Griffin Welch to make it 1-0.
Rodriguez said, “Well, we got the ball probably like almost half field. I played Uli down the line. I made the run into the box. He played me a beautiful ball. And I had to finish that for the team.”
As play resumed, the Vikings parked the bus protecting their one goal lead.
Lopez fines Erick Velasco in the box. He jukes to two Vikings defenders and shoots and hits the post.
In added-time, the Falcons were looking for that next goal. Joshua Chavez centers the ball in the box. Chaos issues as both teams battle for possession. Lopez found the ball and with the last shot of the game, scored.
Euphoria issues as the Falcons tie the game. The team celebrates and mob Lopez on the left corner flag. Fans go crazy jumping up and down on the stands and running around the field, as the games goes into a penalty kicks shootout.
Lopez said, “I was just trying to shoot it as hard as I could, to be honest. Didn’t pick a spot, just try to hit it as hard as I can.”
In PK’s, both teams were going the distance. Julian Zarate stepped up and beat Welch to win the shootout 6-5.
Zarate said,. “You know, of course, you’re, you’re a little nervous at first, but when I got to the spot, you know, I was just focusing. I was just, I knew what I had to do.”
Artiaga on his team’s performance, said “Man, it’s one of those games where we felt like we were the better team. We felt like we had plenty of opportunities to put them away in regulation. We couldn’t, then we got caught with a silly ball over the top that we didn’t defend well. But, you know, it happens, man.”
He continued, “We still feel like this is only going to make us stronger. You know, it’s a tie. On paper, it’s a tie. So it’s still a very important point for us from PowerPoints… It is what it is, but we’ve got another game Thursday. So we need to come back stronger. And we’ve got to learn and grow from this”
The Falcons now headed to El Camino to face the Warriors for third place in the tournament on Nov. 14.
