The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
Michael Gutierrez has a small goal at his house. That’s where the Lakewood sophomore practices bending shots in with his left foot. It’s not a lot of space though, so he has to be precise.
Practice makes perfect.
Gutierrez bent another one in for Lakewood in the seventh minute of the CIF Southern Section Division 4 semifinals on Friday afternoon and the Lancers held off visiting Savanna for a 1-0 win.
“This feels really good because of all the hard work we put in,” said Gutierrez, who has scored five goals in four postseason wins.
Lakewood is going to a CIF championship game for the first time since 1985. The Lancers will face Etiwanda on Friday or Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Day and time of the game will be announced this weekend.
“I have no words, this is an amazing feeling, but the job’s not finished,” said Lakewood coach Alex Diaz. “This group is different. I don’t know what it is but it makes my job easy. They just put it on themselves, this is their goal so it’s all been since summer with not one complaint or one guy missing training at 6:30 in the morning.”
This is the second consecutive clean sheet for the Lakewood defense and goalkeeper Diego Ortiz. Savanna was limited to just four shots on goal.
“We pretty much have the same defense as last year and I think we have more chemistry, we understand each other,” said Lakewood defensive captain Diego Perez. “The defense gives 100 percent. It’s not about specific things we do, we just trust each other.”
Lakewood started on the front foot and stayed there while pressuring nearly every Savanna touch. That strategy has worked well for the Lancers in the postseason and that’s because of work rate and support of each other.
“The key is having all of the middles and back line pushing up to help us press so they won’t break our line,” said Lakewood forward Jonathan Romero.
“We worked on pressing and that’s how our goal came,” Diaz said. “We knew they were going to try and build out (of the back) and we talked about being tight and disciplined and they’re going to give us the ball. And the first ball they gave us, Chris did a good job and Michael took care of it.”
In the seventh minute, Christian Valvic pounced on a Savanna miscue and fed Gutierrez who used his pace to get down the left sideline. He used is pace turning past a defender into the 18-yard box and used his left foot to bend in between the goalkeeper and the near post.
“I just try to bend it (with my left foot) so the keeper thinks it’s going out but it (comes back in),” said Gutierrez.
“He keeps telling me, ‘Coach, I’m going to score,’ so it’s just the confidence in him,” Diaz said of Gutierrez.
With the lead, Lakewood continued to pump the ball forward to Romero and Gutierrez who held it up nicely and stayed dangerous. The Lancers defended their lead by staying aggressive and outshot Savanna 20-7 in the game.
“We know how we both play with each other so when I move and get in front of him he knows I’m going to head it straight to him,” said Romero of he and Gutierrez. “We’ve put in the hard work, and with the press we win the ball up top and just go.”
Savanna had a sitter at the end of the first half off a bad Lakewood miscue, but it sailed over the crossbar that was the best chance the visitors saw at equalizing.
“We defend well and we don’t panic under pressure,” said Diaz. “It’s the group that works hard and works for each other. They’ve put themselves in a good situation and this is what they’ve wanted all year.”
Diaz also thinks that playing soccer in Long Beach made his team better for the postseason.
“I think our league prepared us because it’s one of the toughest leagues out here,” said Diaz of the Moore League where the Lancers finished third. “The league put us under pressure, and I told the team, ‘If we can defend (the league) then I think we can defend anyone else.’”
“We need to keep the same energy and stay positive and work hard,” said Gutierrez of the final preparation.
