The562’s coverage of high school soccer is sponsored by Long Beach FC.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
This game deserved overtime, but sometimes the beautiful game is cruel.
Wilson and Dominguez both dominated one half of their CIF Southern Section Division 5 quarterfinal match on Wednesday evening at Dominguez. What ended up deciding it was a controversial goal in the 64th minute as the Dons advanced with a 1-0 victory.
The Bruins gathered in a circle after the final whistle and took solace in coach CJ Brewer’s message that their exciting postseason journey is just another life lesson delivered through sports.
“We’re one big family and we’ve grown a lot this past year as a team, as players and as people overall,” Wilson senior goalkeeper Grayson Gilmore said. “We’ll always have a home (at Wilson) if you’re graduating and continuing the legacy next year.”
“In this game (our team) experienced all phases of life,” Brewer said. “You can’t win every game but you can be proud that you gave everything you had and it doesn’t matter the result if you did that.”
Dominguez was fantastic in the first half with two forwards up top who used overlapping runs from active wing players to unlock a stout Wilson defense. Senior Daniel Palacios marauded the right flank and got off the first and only two shots of the opening ten minutes, but they both sailed just high over the crossbar.
At the other end, Wilson was outnumbered in the attacking third while target forward Casey Pettyjohn struggled to find space or his teammates. The Bruins didn’t have a shot on goal in the first half while being outshot by their hosts 4-1.
Wilson did show some life in the last 10 minutes of the first half when Palacios was subbed out and the Bruins adjusted their formation to put three defenders back and an extra attacker forward. They earned a pair of set pieces in dangerous areas, but couldn’t deliver quality service to create scoring opportunities.
Brewer told his team at halftime that they were going to roll the dice and keep the more aggressive formation and tactics. That decision changed the game and Wilson was the much better side in the second half as the Bruins outshot the Dons 4-2 after halftime.
Wilson’s best chance to score came in the 46th minute when sophomore defender Ethan Gutierrez sent a fantastic long ball through the Dominguez defense for Angel Ortiz to run onto. He beat his defender with pace and then rebuffed a shoulder to shoulder challenge, but his snap shot from just outside the 18-yard box was saved by Dons goalkeeper Luis Martinez who deftly came off his line.
Pettyjohn also had a pair of headers go wide of the frame off of corner kick service from Dhylan Parada.
“I think our team needed to shoot on the first or second touch a little bit more,” Brewer said. “When (Dominguez) sits a lot of guys back you don’t have time and space to shoot and you can’t expect to win a game unless you’re shooting on frame.”
While there wasn’t any glaring one-sidedness in terms of the refereeing, Wilson got the only two yellow cards of a physical game and was whistled for 16 fouls. Dominguez only committed nine fouls, so they had the majority of free kicks towards goal.
In the 64th minute, Dominguez sophomore defender Jose Martinez teed up a free kick from 45 yards out. His service into the box found the head of a charging Guillermo Garcia but his shot was saved by a diving Gilmore. The rebound went towards the back post where Emmanuel Soltera was finishing his run. The sophomore midfielder scuffed his first shot attempt, but collected it again and fired his second shot towards goal. Wilson junior defender Ethan Supernaw retreated to clear it off the line, and it looked like he had done so successfully, but the assistant referee deemed that the ball had gone over the line and awarded the goal. Supernaw and Wilson adamantly protested to no avail.
“It’s controversial and it could’ve gone either way,” Brewer said. “You just have to take your lumps and know that you can’t let a referee decide a game. We’re not worried about the call, we’re only worried about what we can control. Today we played great defensively.”
There was another controversial moment a few minutes later when a foul was called on Wilson inside the Dominguez box. The Bruins thought the call was for an injury as a Dons defender went to ground. When Martinez picked the ball up and dropped it twice Wilson freshman Lio Rodriguez dribbled it into the goal uncontested. However, the refs took the ball back to the spot of the foul and play continued.
Wilson put everyone up for a last-minute set piece, but as was the theme of the game, they took too long to get a shot off and Dominguez cleared the danger to clinch the win.
“It sucks to lose but I’m proud of our team for working this hard and getting this far,” Gilmore said.
The Bruins have won three playoff games in the last two seasons.
