| WCFC Takes Title |
| By: Erin Murphy |
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| Posted: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 8:49 am |
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| The West Coast championship team. |
The West Coast FC BU19 Premier team punched its ticket to the Far West Regionals after a 2-0 finish over FC San Diego B91 in the 2010 Cal South National Cup BU18 finals in Temecula.
“We played well,” WCFC coach Neil Armour said. “It was a close game but I think that we did a little bit more and I think we deserved the win. The fact that we get a trip to Regionals is fantastic. All credit goes out to FC San Diego. It was a fantastic battle and they are a great team. They have made it to the finals the last two years and that takes a lot doing. It’s not an easy feat.”
Jamie Gutierrez put WCFC on the board in the first 15 minutes off an assist from Ray Estrada. West Coast continued to dominate the first half taking the 1-0 lead into intermission.
“[Their goal] was marked by two instances of fantastic individual skill,” FCSD coach Mike Lopez said. “Their outside back made a great run beating a couple of our players and then delivering a dangerous ball in, and their forward hit a difficult one time strike into the top shelf in full stride of a equally good run. It was a finish worthy of a National Cup final.”
WCFC got its second break halfway through the second half off an FCSD defensive mishap. The fairly textbook clearance went bad and Jonathan “Kiwi” Canales was in the right place at the right time to benefit from the mistake. The ball fell right into Canales’ stride and set him up on a one-on-one with goalie Alex Egan. Canales calmly tapped in the shot for the 2-0 advantage.
Despite being down 2-0, FCSD didn’t give up without a fight, pressuring the West Coast net until the final whistle. The Sockers had an empty net goal turned away by a defender’s sliding save, another shot go off the crossbar, a goal pulled back by a close offsides call and a few other decent attempts, but both defenses were stingy and FCSD was unable to capitalize on the few chances they created.
"I believe West Coast earned the win in a game where the details mattered most and they attended to them better than we did in the end," Lopez said. "I think they will represent Cal South very well, and their opportunity is much deserved."
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| The FC San Diego boys celebrate their back-to-back run to the National Cup finals. |
The Warriors came out of pool play second in their bracket with a 1-0 win over OJSC OC Premier Titans (Gold) and a 1-1 tie with MV Pateadores. They served up some fierce competition in the Round of 16 when they came from behind to defeat Orange County rival United FC Black, 4-3, and they also made a splash when they defeated Oxnard Wave, 1-0, to advance to the semifinals.
Although the title win against FCSD was great accomplishment, the Warriors’ savory moment in the tournament was beating the Slammers FC in penalty kicks in the semifinals. The win was sweet revenge for West Coast, who have had a rivalry with the Slammers for years.
The championship title was a sweet ending for the Orange County squad, most of who have been playing together for four or five years and will be going off to college next year. Armour has been coaching the majority of the team since U11 and has seen the boys overcome many obstacles in their time together.
“It’s a team with lots of talent,” Armour said. “But we also know that it took a lot of hard work to get where we are today."
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