The last thing Beaumont High’s boys’ soccer team wanted was another overtime affair.
So on Friday the Cougars closed shop early, registering a 2-1 CIF-Southern Section Div. 6 quarterfinal victory over San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret’s in the final minutes of regulation play.
Beaumont (15-6-5) opened the playoffs with an 8-7 sudden death win over Thermal Desert Mirage and followed that with a 3-2 overtime second round win over Sherman Oaks Buckley.
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“We didn’t want to get into overtime,” Beaumont coach Barry Steele said. “I thought if we pressed for 40 minutes, we would get it and we got one. The second we got it, though, we conceded one. But I thought it was a game we could win in regulation.
And now the Cougars are in the semifinals for the first time. There the Mountain Pass League runner-up will face a familiar foe – MPL at-large entry Citrus Hill. The Hawks (11-4-5) advanced into their first semifinal with a 2-0 win over Marshall.
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“It’s been a long season but you have to have a little luck,” Steele said. “We won in penalty kicks. We won in overtime. We were tied and won with 10 minutes left to go. I just think we have a real good group. This is why we have worked so hard for the last nine months; for this moment and here we are.”
St. Margaret’s tied the game at 1 with about 12 minutes left in regulation. But the Cougars responded quickly.
The go-ahead goal was a ‘bread and butter’ type play by Beaumont. It arrived just two minutes after St. Margaret’s game tying goal and started with a direct kick by Nayan Patel. With most of his teammates charging in one direction, Patel went the opposite way where his pass found Jake Jones alone and in front of the box. He tapped it in for the eventual game winner.
“It came in and I saw the keeper come in,” said Jones, who right-footed the ball in. “I didn’t want to put too much on it. It was just enough.”
Beaumont’s first goal – a shot by freshman Christian Valenzuela - may have provided the biggest moment of the contest. It arrived just two minutes into the game. The Cougars haven’t lost a game this season after scoring first.
“We still have not lost all season if we scored first,” Steele said. “It puts you in a totally different mentality. When you get that early goal, it gives you that mentality that we’ve got it and we play with more confidence.”
