Valley High capitalizes on Pacheco mistakes to deny Panthers soccer section championship
The Pacheco High boys soccer team’s bid for a section championship came up just short.
Top-seeded Valley High capitalized on two Panthers mistakes on defense, which led to both Viking goals as Valley defeated No. 7 Pacheco 2-1 on Thursday night in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship match at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento.
“It’s sad because you work so hard for this,” said Pacheco defender Anthony Tiznado. “This whole season, training, training, training, beating every team, winning a (Western Athletic Conference) championship, leading to all the playoff games and then you just lose and it’s over.”
Many Panther players fell to the turf after the final whistle. Tears trickled down their cheeks as they made their way back to their sideline. Meanwhile, the Vikings players were celebrating in the background.
The Panthers had to overcome adversity all season to make their journey to the section final.
Pacheco was a team that had to play its final six games of the regular season without six players, who were suspended after leaving the Panthers sideline during an altercation against Johansen late in the season.
Pacheco has also been without key players for other various reasons during the season. The Panthers then went on the road as the No. 7 seed and knocked off No. 2 Christian Brothers in the quarterfinal 4-2 and again made a long trip to defeat No. 3 Vista Del Lago 2-1 in the semifinals.
“I told them to keep their heads up, they’ve had a great season,” said Pacheco first-year coach Mario Fregoso. “This is our third time coming out to Sac to play for away game. I wanted to let them know not to be hard on themselves and to keep going because we’re still not done.”
The Panthers (18-5-2) still have the NorCal Regional Playoffs ahead of them next week. The matchups will be announced on Sunday.
Fregoso hopes his team will learn from the appearance in the section final.
The Panthers had to overcome nerves early as Valley struck first inside the first two minutes as the Vikings found senior Jose Aguirre in front of the net on a corner kick and Aguirre deposited the ball into the net for a quick 1-0 lead.
Pacheco answered back in the 10th minute on a set piece of its own. Andrew Osorio Navarro lofted a free kick into the box from 35 yards out and teammate Erwin Cervantez scored on a header to tie the match at 1-1.
“They crossed it, I followed the ball and headed it to the right side,” Cervantez said. “It was a good feeling.”
A freak play turned out to be the difference as Aguirre lined a free kick into the box from 50 yards out. A Pacheco defender attempted to head the ball out of danger, but the ball glanced off his head and went straight back into the Panthers net to give Valley a 2-1 lead in the 32nd minute.
The Panthers chased the equalizer the rest of the way, trying to assemble a successful attack against the Vikings.
Pacheco had opportunities but couldn’t finish with the ball in the net.
“The biggest difference was our little mistakes,” Tiznado said. “You could see it, we were dominating, we were doing everything to get that goal. It’s just the little mistakes you make, any mistake could be the difference in the game.”
“We deserved to win the whole thing,” Cervantez added. “Can’t win them all.”
Fregoso said despite the loss his players represented Los Banos well.
“I feel like nobody expected us to do this because I’m a new coach,” Fregoso said. “Nobody expected the boys to go this far. I’m beyond proud of them. Ever since I came in the first day they’ve been listening to me and because of them we got this far.”
