By Daily Press Staff
There is a difference between finishing in second and third. Third place will usually make a team play a wildcard game. Second place usually gets you to the first round. Knowing this, Santa Monica was scheduled to play its final game against Leuzinger. In their prior meeting, Samohi had traveled to Leuzinger and defeated the 2002 CO-CIF Champions 2-1. So Leuzinger was looking revenge.
The game started at 3 p.m., and the rain was sporadic. Leuzinger opened up the scoring in the 15th minute when the Samohi defense missed a cleared ball into the middle, about 18-yards out from the goal, and a Leuzinger player put the ball in. The Vikings then regrouped.
Playing smarter in the midfield by winning the ball and advancing the attack, the tide soon turned on Leuzinger. In the 30th minute off a Samohi attack, the ball scurried around the Leuzinger goal. Finally senior midfielder Josh Rodriguez shot the ball into the low left-hand corner past the goalkeeper to tie the game. Then four minutes later, Leuzinger gave up a foul 30 yards outside of their goal. Junior midfielder Andrew Marinez sent in the kick, the Leuzinger goalie tried to bat the ball away, but only was able to knock it straight down. Junior midfielder Ryan Natale shot the ball, which then hit the inside of the right goal post and went in, giving Samohi the lead 2-1 at the half.
In the second half, Leuzinger came out with vengeance. Attacking the Samohi goal for the first ten minutes, they tried to score. Their closest chance came with a low lying shot towards the right corner, but senior goalkeeper Daniel Islas made a diving save. Extending his entire body, he was able to deflect the ball away from the Vikings’ goal to preserve the lead and switch momentum.
From that point, Samohi reignited their attack. Using the flanks to advance and then send in the ball, the Vikings kept pressing. Then in the 68th minute, junior midfielder Carlos Lopez crossed the ball, in the air, to senior forward Corey Prost, who stood eight yards away from the goal. With his head, he redirected the cross to the left-hand side of the goal, past the keeper and this gave Samohi the win, 3-1.
The Vikings (16-8-1 overall, 9-4 league) will now wait to see their pair-ings for the CIF Div. 2 playoffs. It has been two years since the Vikings last played in the playoffs.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 14, 2003. Read the original PDF.