The562’s soccer coverage for the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by Beach Futbol Club.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly athletics in the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by Poly alum Jayon Brown and PlayFair Sports Management.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly athletics in the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by JuJu Smith-Schuster and the JuJu Foundation.
The Long Beach Poly boys’ soccer team is 80 minutes away from history, as they prepare to take on San Clemente in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 championship game at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
Fans can get tickets here and we will have live updates from the game.
It would be Poly’s first boys’ soccer CIFSS title since 1999 and the second ever in program history.
“One of the biggest things we’ve been talking about is how difficult it is to write history at Poly,” said coach Eric Leon. “To be in a situation to bring that first title to the school so far this year–the boys know what’s riding on the line. They want to stamp their own history and represent the city.”
Saturday’s game will be a rematch between the Jackrabbits and Tritons, who played to a 1-1 draw earlier this season. San Clemente have been on a tear through the playoffs, outscoring opponents 10-1 with a PK tiebreaker win as well. The Jackrabbits meanwhile have been battle-tested each round, with a 5-4 win in the first round, two PK tiebreaker wins, and a 2-1 nailbiter in the semifinals.
The biggest unknown heading into the game is the weather, with it expected to rain for 36 hours straight leading up to gametime. The current plan is to play all four CIF-SS title games at Vets Saturday unless there’s lightning, which would require stoppage.
“We’re expecting it to be wet, we just hope that lightning and thunder don’t mess it up because there’s no potential dates to move it to,” said Leon. We had some rain at practice to give us a good example. We try to play technical, that’s our ability, but the rain can affect that type of gameplay so we have to be ready to adapt.”
