California Baptist University
Concordia
BROKEN ON A BREAKAWAY
10/31/2010 12:59:00 AM | Men's Soccer
IRVINE, Calif. --- The good news. The playoffs start Wednesday.
The bad news. No. 8 California Baptist University had the GSAC title slip from its grasp.
Unranked Concordia scored on a breakaway in the 81st minute to break a 1-1 tie and stun the Lancers, 2-1, in the regular season finale Saturday in Irvine. That, coupled with Vanguard's 4-0 win at Westmont, gives Vanguard the GSAC title. The Lancers finish second.
Both teams were playing for something. The Lancers-for their first GSAC title since 1990. The Eagles-for their playoff life. It was the Eagles who got what they wanted, but now they must wait to see what The Master's does tonight against Biola to see if it was enough.
"We didn't show up out of the gate to play playoff football, and that's what this game was," said CBU Head Coach Ryan Jorden. "We've talked about what the playoffs will be like and being ready to compete. We didn't show up with that sense of urgency from the get go and as a result, we didn't get the result. They played well for 90 minutes, we didn't, and now we're stuck with this result."
The teams combined for 39 shots with the Lancers holding a 21-18 advantage, but Eagle keeper James Rammelsberg came up with six big saves in the opening half to keep the Lancers off the board.
The Eagles struck in the 30th minute on a goal by Carlos Suarez, who took a Roi Castro pass and beat Lancer keeper Jeff Redinger to his right.
It seemed as if the Eagles were going to escape with a 1-0 win as they sat back content to burn off the remaining minutes. But the Lancers broke through in the 76th. The Eagles were called for a hand ball in the box, ironically just seconds before the Lancers actually scored a goal. But the referee blew the whistle, waved off the advantage, and awarded the Lancers a penalty kick. Heitor Santarem took and converted his third penalty kick of the season in the third straight game.
The Lancers nearly went ahead minutes later, but Marc Hope's shot from the right side caromed off the crossbar.
Then, in the 81st minute, the Eagles broke the Lancers' heart when Mickey Mendoza took a long pass from Castro, got in behind the Lancer defense and beat Redinger in a one-on-one situation to put the game away. The Lancers didn't get another good look at the goal.
For the Lancers, the formula was simple, win and they're the GSAC champs. Instead, the Lancers finish second and will host the seventh seed, which ironically could be Concordia, Wednesday in the opening round of the GSAC Tournament. The semifinals are Saturday.
"I hope the guys feel the disappointment that comes with losing this game, and hopefully they won't want to experience it again and will show up ready to go from here on out," said Jorden.
