The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
The first-place Moore League boys’ soccer fixture between Millikan and Wilson on Wednesday night was yet another example of how the final score rarely reflects the beautiful game played.
A plethora of gilt-edged opportunities and a breakneck pace throughout made it feel like an offensive explosion was imminent, but it was an eighth minute goal that proved to be the difference. Millikan’s Israel Gonzalez provided the assist on Juan Vasquez’s header that stood up after the Rams held the Bruins at bay down the stretch.
Millikan is now alone atop the league standings with 10 points and Wilson falls to third with five points. The Rams are trying to win a third consecutive league title so seniors captains like Vasquez and Gonzalez are trying to use that experience to lead their team.
“It’s kind of hard with a lot of new guys, but me, Cody (Ekblad) and Sergio (Lica), talk to the younger guys about just staying focused,” Vasquez said. “That’s what matters.”
Both teams finished with six shots on goal but it was a tale of two halves. Millikan enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the first half and looked to be in control until the second half when Wilson came alive and nearly equalized multiple times.
“I think those are two good teams and it was one play away from a different result,” Wilson coach CJ Brewer said. “It was a physical game where both teams played well in every aspect. There wasn’t anything that separated us besides the time they finished and the number of times we didn’t.”
The match felt relatively even in the early going before the moment of brilliance from Gonzalez and Vasquez turned the tide. Gonzalez dribbled past a pair of Wilson defenders on the right flank and cut back deftly to create space for his cross into the box. The senior midfielder used the outside of his right foot to curl the pass to the front post. Vasquez rose up to meet it and the inch-perfect header found the upper V at the back post.
“He understands the game really well and obviously he’s great on the ball,” Millikan coach Jeff Schofield said of Gonzalez. “You just get him the ball and he creates things.”
It is Vasquez’s 11th goal of the season, and he said after the game that the connection with Gonzalez goes beyond the field.
“It’s good to have a good relationship with your teammates on and off the field… We talk during lunch and spend time together,” Vasquez said. “I didn’t really know where (the cross) was going to go, but I just put my head on it and I knew it was going in.”
Wilson answered the goal with their first stretch of pressure at the other end. Forwards Nery Colado and Casey Pettyjohn chased down long balls over the top to earn the first two shots on goal for the Bruins, but Millikan goalkeeper Stacey McLean bravely came off his line to save both. He finished with six saves in the clean sheet performance.
Around the half hour mark Millikan’s Owen Edwards, Wylan Gohn and Gonzalez all came within inches of doubling the lead. Edwards and Gohn just missed tucking headers under the crossbar, and Gonzalez had his point-blank one-timer stopped by Wilson goalkeeper Grayson Gilmore, who finished with five saves.
Wilson came out on the front foot in the second half as Michael Ulloa set the tone with a 43rd minute cracking shot that McLean parried off the crossbar. The Bruins drew fouls to earn the majority of dangerous set pieces, and had four corner kicks, but the service failed to create the opportunity the Bruins needed to equalize.
There was a five minute stretch in the heart of the second half that turned into a track meet as both teams broke free on counter attacks. Wilson defender Ethan Supernaw and Millikan defender Owen Edwards both had last-ditch tackles to cut down those chances.
“A cornerstone for us is always high press and high attack,” Schofield said of the fast pace. “We do have some more skilled guys than we’ve had in the past so there are times in the game where we want to slow it down a little bit. So I think the pace suited (Wilson) a little bit more, in terms of end to end. We like to go quick but keep possession with a bunch of passes. That’s not going forward but it’s still quick. That controls the game a little bit more.”
That control was paramount in the final 20 minutes as Millikan saw it out with the poise you would expect from a program trying to win a third consecutive league title. It is the 13th clean sheet for the Rams this season.
“I’m proud of us for keeping up with a team that’s highly ranked,” Brewer said of Wilson. “We have to continue to be a hard team to beat so we can make it to the playoffs.”
Lakewood is the next opponent for both teams. Millikan hosts the Lancers on Friday before Wilson travels to Lakewood Wednesday.
