Sometimes less is better than more. At least that was the case for the Monrovia boys soccer team Wednesday when it hosted second-seeded Victory Valley in the CIF-Southern Section Division V playoffs.
The Wildcats put together a valiant effort in trying to fight back down two men, but ultimately lost 3-1.
“That was the comment I made to them when we walked off the field, ‘Why is that we can play with nine and not the 11 that we should have,’ ” Monrovia coach Michael Williams said of his team.
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The Wildcats (15-8-2) trailed 3-0 midway through the second half when Andrew Barajas and Daniel Naccarati were controversially shown red cards for challenges made on Jackrabbit players.
“I have no idea what he was thinking,” Williams said of the referee. “That was completely wrong.”
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Victor Valley coach Bryan Musslewhite said he too was unsure about the red cards.
“From where I’m standing, they’re hard fouls. I don’t know if they necessarily deserved a straight red,” Musslewhite said. “That’s the way the referee saw them. We’ll take every bounce we can get, every (bit of) luck we can get.”
Playing with just nine for the final 15 minutes, Monrovia had more chances to score in that time frame that it did in the previous 65 minutes.
Sophomore midfielder James Alewine fought off a defender and was able to put a left-footed shot past goalie Emmanuel Marquez in the 76th minute to make it 3-1.
Alewine almost scored a second goal in injury time when he nearly headed in a corner kick from junior Reed Miller.
Victor Valley (18-2-2) got on the board in just the second minute. Jose Sanchez took a quick re-start free kick from the middle of the field and was able to find Victor Palafox open on the left side of the goal box. Palafox put the ball past freshman goalie Max Medley for a 1-0 lead.
“What killed us was the first goal — that was the one that did us in,” said Williams, who had just two seniors in his starting 11. “It was a mistake on defense.”
The Jackrabbits took a 2-0 lead in the 18th minute when Sanchez hooked up with Jessy Castaneda on a free kick, with the latter heading the ball past Medley.
“(The second) goal was huge, because I thought Monrovia was building some momentum and I think they were the better side for a portion of that first half,” Musslewhite said. “When we were able to finish that one off, I think that we were able to kill off some of their momentum.
“They have excellent midfielders and an excellent striker we knew about. We know La Cañada is No. 1, and every time these guys have played La Cañada it has been close games. We knew coming in this was a top program. We took advantages of chances and finished and fortunately we came away with the win.”