San Juan Hills earns first trip to CIF semifinals with 3-2 win over Santa Ana
Twice San Juan Hills boys soccer team conceded early, once in the first half, and then early in the second half, and twice it bounced back.
The Stallions (10-2-6) rallied behind striker and team co-captain Cole Monach, who scored on both occasions, and later scored with 17 minutes to go in the second half to eliminate Santa Ana (16-4-4) 3-2 on Friday in the Division 2 CIF quarterfinals at the Santa Ana Bowl in front of a large crowd.
San Juan Hills took the lead for good with over a quarter of an hour left to play when forward Caden Berry juked past the Santa Ana defense and placed a soft touch past Saints goalkeeper Randy Guerrero for the game-winning goal that extended the visitors unbeaten streak to 11 consecutive games, and on their way to the semifinals for the first time in school history.
“I told them (San Juan Hills) ‘it’s going to be the momentum that’s going to carry the game.’ It was more about who was going to dig down deep and fight for it,” said Eduardo Ozuna, Stallions head coach. “It was a great Santa Ana team. We were evenly matched, but the boys have made their history at the high school, and continue to create their history.”
The last time the Stallions suffered a loss was on Dec. 20, 2021 against St. John Bosco.
“Our team has been a fighter all year and we get it done. Now we have to finish strong. That’s our thing,” said Monach after the game. “It’s our defense. They’ve been a brick wall all season, and it hasn’t changed throughout CIF, so we’ve got to give it up to them. They held strong. They gave up two which is very uncharacteristic for them, but we got the win.”
Santa Ana scored in the first and 42nd minute of the game via Brian Mendez-Maravilla off an assist from Juan Rodríguez, and a strike from forward Paul Carrillo, respectively.
Monach scored his brace in the 22nd and 51st minute. The first one off a mix up from the Santa Ana backline, and the second one off a blast to the top-right corner of Guerrero.
The Saints pushed their lines in the final minutes of the game to press for an equalizer, but the Stallions defense stood its ground and rose to the occasion to hold the victory. Stallions’ goalkeeper Anthony Majorino made clutch saves throughout the game to give his team a chance to make it past another playoff round.
It appeared that Santa Ana had leveled the game in stoppage time, but an offside call nullified the scoring effort from Saints forward Andrew Martínez.
“We made a couple of mistakes there. Let them back into the game. We had a chance to keep the pressure on, but at this stage you can’t let up,” said Santa Ana Coach Joe Peñaflor. “Credit to San Juan they kept pushing, and pushing and pushing, and they kept going forward. It was a great season. Credit to our kids, and I’m proud of everything they did all season long.”
San Juan Hills will face Montebello in the semifinals Tuesday.
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Tag(s): HOME Boys Soccer
