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The No. 10 Corona del Sol High School boys soccer (9-3) team outlasted No. 23 Sandra Day O’Connor (5-7) in the play-in round of the 6A playoffs.
Corona beat the Eagles 2-1 earlier in the year. The play-in match was tightly contested, and after two overtime periods, the Aztecs won 5-4 in a shootout.
“I have to give it to Sandra Day,” Aztecs head coach Keith Diamanti said. “They really came out, played well. We beat them earlier in the year, and they just came out and played fantastic. We were up 3-1, had a comfortable lead, and they just kept fighting, and fighting and fighting. So a very well coached team, but my boys persevered. The seniors stepped up.”
Both teams had to warm up twice because the Corona girls soccer team won in double overtime before they could start. They were ready to go, but most of the action came late.
Senior striker Sean Maguire scored the first goal with 28 minutes left in the first half, and senior Milkanu Baker responded with a goal for O'Connor four minutes later. Corona got two goals from sophomore Ian White and senior Pablo Frausto in the final 10 minutes of the first half to lead 3-1.
The Aztecs controlled momentum but were unable to score again in the second half. The Eagles kept coming up short on their attempts but finally made it 3-2 with 5:22 left to play.
Junior goalkeeper Payton Roehrich got a save on the initial shot, and then junior Ryan Strickland kicked the ball into the goal off the ricochet. The Eagles were frantically trying to keep their season alive in the final minutes and managed to score with a header off of a penalty kick from junior Kevin Pasinski with 2:36 left to play.
The Aztecs weren’t nervous until the Eagles took a 4-3 lead in the second overtime period. Diamanti had faith in his players who’ve been in situations like this in the past, and senior Vaughn Harris was able to tie it 4-4.
Roehrich saved the first attempt in the shootout, and then pressure shifted to senior goalie Richard Ulloa for the Eagles. He was unable to stop the Aztecs from scoring on each attempt.
“We have one of the best goalkeepers in the state in Payton Roehrich,” Diamanti said. “We just knew that if we could get it to PKs, that he could win it for us, and he made that one crucial save, and we won 4-5 in PKs.”
The Aztecs travel to No. 7 Shadow Ridge (12-0) to play the first round of playoffs at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 13. Diamanti is excited to see how far his squad will go in his first season with Corona and said he looks forward to the challenges ahead.
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