Golden Valley boys unable to overcome Clovis North in Div. II soccer semi
BY MATT MARTZ Special to The Californian
While facing a deficit was nothing new to the Golden Valley's boys soccer team, trailing by two in extra time was uncharted territory, and it proved to be too much.
After taking a 1-0 lead early in the second on a goal by senior Juan Alvarado, the No. 1 seeded Bulldogs ran out of gas, as the No. 4 Clovis North Broncos rallied to a 3-1 overtime victory in Tuesday's Central Section Division II semifinals at Golden Valley.
"You can't turn it on and off like a light; we didn't finish our chances and we let a good team stay in the game longer and build their momentum," Golden Valley coach Troy Lynch said. "We didn't get back on defense, we didn't clear the ball, and they simply outhustled us in the second half."
Clinging to a one-goal advantage, that lack of hustle finally caught up to the Bulldogs, allowing room for Broncos' forward Shant Avadis to make a crisp low cross to David Omi, who tucked in the equalizer past keeper Adrian Torres at the 77th minute.
The late goal shifted the momentum in the Broncos' favor, as they came out swinging in the overtime period, taking the lead on Avadis' header at the 85th minute, before adding insurance on Kory Kisling's redemption goal in the 94th minute.
Kisling's handball inside the penalty area at the 48th minute gave Golden Valley its lone goal of the game as Alvarado buried a penalty kick past keeper Kyle Stevens on just the Bulldogs' second shot of the match.
"We got too confident, they came at us hard, and they wanted it more," said Alvarado. "When they got the second goal, it seemed like we dropped our heads and it all went downhill from there."
The Bulldogs got one last scoring opportunity in the extra period when Julian Zamora served up a sweeping corner kick that found its way on to the foot of Jesus Campos who turned and fired, but was denied by Stevens, who made six saves on the night.
Golden Valley had just four shots on goal in the final 52 minutes of the match and was outshot by Clovis West 6-5.
The two teams saw equal possession early on, feeling each other out without a single shot on goal until Broncos' Esteban Salgadoto floated a long outlet pass to Justin Barrett in the 18th minute, launching a low rocket that was smothered by Torres who finished the match with three saves.Clovis will play in its first final on Thursday at No. 2 Sunnyside, which eliminated last year's section champions No. 11 Reedley.
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