BOYS SOCCER: Burlingame Blasts Carlmont 3-0

The Score: Burlingame 3, Carlmont 0.

The Star: Burlingame High's Stefano Bonomo scored a beautiful goal in the second half when he worked the ball through three Carlmont defenders in close before putting it home.

The Turning Point: The Panthers' Victor Prieto made a nice centering pass to Kody Wakasa to set up the first goal of the game.

The Quote: “That was one of the best individual goals I've seen in high school soccer. He got the ball, he beat three or four players. It was a phenomenal individual effort and a great finish.” -- Burlingame coach Mike Sharabi, on Bonomo's goal.

What's Next? Burlingame plays at Sequoia on Friday at 5:45 p.m. Carlmont is at Westmoor, also on Friday. That game is scheduled for 3 p.m.

The Bottom Line: Bonomo had a big day on Wednesday – he signed his letter of intent to play for California next year.

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Burlingame High School's boys soccer team continued its march through the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division schedule on Wednesday with a 3-0 victory over visiting Carlmont. The Panthers are now 8-1 in PAL play. The Scots fell to 5-3-1 but remained in third place.

The first 25 minutes of the game were even with very few scoring opportunities. However, Burlingame seemed to get going in the 29^th minute when Kody Wakasa got off a clean shot from the right, with Carlmont goalkeeper Jared Fitzpatrick making a punch save.

A minute later, Victor Prieto came down the right side for the Panthers and centered the ball to Wakasa, who blasted it past Fitzpatrick to open the scoring. From that point on, Burlingame seemed in control.

“That's our style of play,” Burlingame coach Mike Sharabi said. “We believe we're the fittest team in the league and we'll pressure a team and pressure a team until we can break them down. We know if we're in a close game at the half, we're going to push through and get that winning goal in the second half. Today, we were up at halftime and the second half we just took it to them.”

Said Carlmont coach Jodi Beloff, “I thought that we actually battled them pretty square the first half. Yeah, they went up a goal, but I thought it was a pretty evenly-matched first half. We made some tactical changes to try to combat the one-down deficit. That decision probably came back to bite me.

“We changed up the formation a little bit, went a little bit more offense, gave up a little bit on the defense. The defensive line worked really hard, they did a good job, but they got tired. With physical exhaustion comes mental exhaustion. We had a couple of mental breaks on the back line, didn't mark up the way we're supposed to mark up, and they took advantage.”

Burlingame, slotted No. 3 in , to Carlmont's No. 7, got its second goal in the 51^st minute when Teymur Lutvaliev came up the left and then sent the ball across to Mark Lopez on the right. Lopez fired his shot back to the left side of the net.

In the 68^th minute, Stefano Bonomo made a great individual effort for the Panthers’ third goal, shaking three defenders in close before putting it home.

“It started off with a throw-in from Ben (Zipkin),” Bonomo said. “I had a defender on my back so I tried to take him out a little, beat him with speed. Then, I found another guy, and I cut him. Then another guy was coming at me and I cut him, too. Then, I was in the box by myself, one-on-one with (Fitzpatrick). I decided to shoot it left.”

Bonomo was nonchalant about the whole thing, but Sharabi wasn't.

“That was one of the best individual goals I've seen in high school soccer,” Sharabi said. “He got the ball, he beat three or four players.”

Bonomo signed a letter-of-intent to go to California earlier on Wednesday. He said Cal entered the picture late in the recruiting process but he's happy to be headed to Berkeley.

As for Carlmont, the Scots are still in good shape to earn a Central Coast Section playoff bid. Carlmont sits in third place in the PAL Bay and the top three finishers earn an automatic berth.

Sharabi, for one, thinks the Scots are good enough to make it.

“I believe they are,” he said. “I think they're going to finish third in the league. They have a good team and they're one of the best teams in our league.”

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 Burlingame 3, Carlmont 0

At Burlingame

Scoring: Kody Wakasa (BUR) from Victor Prieto, 30:00; Gaitan Gonzales (BUR) from Teymur Lutvaliev, 51:00; Stefano Bonomo (BUR) unassisted, 68:00.

Records: Burlingame 12-3-1, 8-1 PAL Bay. Carlmont 8-6-2, 5-3-1.