The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009
The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
There were more loud complaints to the referee than there were quality scoring opportunities on Wednesday night and neither resulted in a goal as Lakewood and Wilson played to a scoreless draw in Moore League boys’ soccer action.
The result leaves Wilson third place in league with nine points in six games. Lakewood is fourth with eight points in five games. Millikan is still first with 16 points.
Both coaches said after the draw that, “It could’ve gone either way.”
“We’re a defensive team and we just stuck to who we are,” Wilson coach CJ Brewer said. “We made some adjustments to (get a goal) and it just didn’t happen but we’re not bummed about it. This didn’t hurt us.”
“This was a good game, and this is the Moore League for you,” Lakewood coach Alex Diaz said. “The boys felt like they deserved a win, we played the better way… But I leave happy.”
Wilson outshot Lakewood 10-8 in the game and the rest of the notable statistics were relatively even. There were six yellow cards issued, three to each side.
Lakewood tried hard all game to feed star forward Michael Gutierrez on the right wing, and he got a nice look at goal in the 14th minute, but Wilson goalkeeper Angel Ramirez made the save. Wilson defender Eloy Sanchez was key to slowing down Gutierrez.
“We’ve been practicing our defense all offseason with cover and press with balance and staying compact,” Sanchez said. “Our defense is really good. We just need to communicate.”
Wilson has only given up one goal in league play, and is on pace to break the record of three goals allowed in league play. That record is shared by Wilson and Millikan.
“We’re a year around program with a lot of games in the offseason,” Brewer said. “We’re not figuring things out during the season. We’ve got it figured out and (the defense) has it dialed in. We’ve always been a defensive team with great goalkeepers at Wilson and they’re just continuing that from last year.”
There were two plays with contact in the Lakewood 18-yard box that left Wilson screaming for a penalty kick. However, there were only three whistles in the first half and none of them resulted in a scoring chance.
The Bruins had more shots in the second half but they all came from distance with the Lakewood defense tightened up. Only one resulted in a save from Lakewood goalkeeper Diego Ortiz.
“When we need to we stay calm on the ball,” Lakewood defender Osiel Morales said. “Even when the game is on the line we stay calm and compact.”
In the 77th minute it looked like Lakewood had scored the game winner when Irving Ventura sent a through ball to Gutierrez. The junior used one touch to get around the defense and sent it into the back of the net, but the assistant referee had his flag up to call Gutierrez offsides.
“I don’t think that was offside,” Diaz said. “Right now everybody defends (Gutierrez) with two or three guys. We want him facing forward, we want him (on the wing) but our balls weren’t getting there. We were playing to his front foot instead of his back foot. Those little details didn’t create that opportunity until the last one.”
Lakewood will face Cabrillo on Friday while Wilson hosts Poly in a second-place showdown at 6 p.m.
