CIF-SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS SOCCER PLAYOFFS

Depleted Valley Christian falls in wild card game
By Loren Kopff

What began as one of the fastest starts the Valley Christian boys soccer program has seen ended in a blink of the eye this past Wednesday. Without the services of their leading scorer, senior Josh Sutherlin, the Crusaders couldn’t keep up with San Luis Obispo in a California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section Division V wild card game.
• The Crusaders allowed three straight goals and lost to the Tigers 3-1 on a gloomy, overcast day at Crusader Field. V.C. ends the season at 15-6-1. V.C. took 13 shots on goal but were called for being offside another seven times, thus being denied more scoring opportunities.
• “We played good soccer but we had the same problem,” said V.C. head coach Chris Becher. “We don’t score goals. We probably had three times as many scoring opportunities as them and we just didn’t score.”
• After falling behind five minutes into the game, the hosts got on the board in the 21st minute when sophomore midfielder John Lee found senior midfielder John McTigue who knocked in his 11th goal of the season. But the Tigers, who were riding a seven-game winning streak entering the playoffs, reclaimed the lead eight minutes later when Jordan Knauer scored off a pass from Matthew Connely.
• The Crusaders, who finished third in the Olympic League, had a chance to tie the game shortly before halftime but a header from Lee went above the crossbar.
• The Tigers dominated the early portion of the second half and iced the game in the 55th minute when Connely assisted on a Trevor James goal. That’s when V.C. picked up its intensity and made more attacks towards the San Luis Obispo goal. In the 67th minute, a point blank shot off the head of senior midfielder Tyler Boer was saved. Four minutes later, Boer missed a deflected shot at the right post and tried to stretch to tap it in before it was cleared out. Finally, McTigue was turned away on a one on one opportunity with six minutes remaining.
• “It’s that need for urgency you can’t coach,” Becher said. “I think our guys work hard but it’s whatever that final third is that scores goals and senses that urgency that lacked today. I was happy with the effort but frustrated that we couldn’t score goals.
• V.C. began the season winning 12 of its first 15 games but beginning with a 2-1 loss to Maranatha on Jan. 14, ended the season winning just three games. To make matters worse, Sutherlin, who had scored 15 goals, broke his arm three weeks ago and senior goalkeeper Matt Vanderduessen missed the final two weeks because of a recurring injury.
• “The big thing tactically was we were playing a 4-5-1 and Josh was the lone striker and we didn’t have that kind of strength up top in a 4-4-2,” Becher said. “It opened a lot in the midfield.”
• Becher added that the team wasn’t capitalizing on opportunities following the winter break which eventually led to the late season slide.