The 2019 edition of the San Diego County Cup/Quin Murphy Tournament will spill over into 2020 due to post-Christmas rainouts. Varsity division finals will now be played Jan. 11 at Hilltop High School.
Semifinals took place last Saturday at Hilltop with upsets abounding.
When championship games roll around next weekend, there will be some surprise matchups.
San Ysidro will face Patrick Henry in the Premier Division final while Montgomery will meet Granite Hills in the Gold Division championship game. Valley Center will tackle Calexico for the Green Division title.
“Every game (in the semifinals) was either an upset or close to it,” tournament director John Salts said. “It’s been exciting soccer. Ultimately, that’s what you want.”
Salts’ own Hilltop Lancers, the top-ranked team among Division III San Diego Section schools, were victims of upsets during tournament play — both in pool play and in last weekend’s semifinals.
San Ysidro ended Hilltop’s 12-game unbeaten streak (9-0-3) with a stunning 3-1 victory in the teams’ opening pool round game Dec. 26 at Montgomery High School.
The Lancers advanced to the Gold Division semifinals with a 2-1 win at Santana on Dec. 27 to close out pool play but lost a hotly contested 2-1 decision to Granite Hills to drop to next weekend’s series of consolation matches.
San Ysidro, which kicked off regular season play with four losses and two ties, proved to be the tournament’s surprise team.
The Cougars scored their first win of the season against a highly rated Hilltop team (ranked third overall in the county) and remained undefeated in tournament play following a 1-1 tie against Santana in pool play on Dec. 27 and last Saturday’s 2-1 double-overtime win over Bonita Vista in the semifinals.
San Ysidro (2-4-3) has played opportunistic soccer to reach the top tier of the tournament’s 12 varsity teams.
“We have the ability to win and we have,” SYHS head coach Isaac Lomeli said. “We never lost intensity (in the upset wins against Hilltop and Bonita Vista).”
The Cougars’ Kairo Gonzalez scored the opening goal against Hilltop during intermittent rain to kick off pool play. But the Lancers, Gold Division champions at the preceding weekend’s Grossmont Holiday Classic, quickly bounced back on a goal by Marcos Calderon to tie the match.
San Ysidro took a 2-1 halftime lead on a goal by Gustavo Ramirez. The Cougars benefitted from strong play by goalkeeper Rafael Martinez, who blocked a penalty kick midway through the second half.
San Ysidro secured the upset win on a late goal by Hector Vazquez as the Lancers pushed forward in a desperate bid to catch up.
The Cougars continued their flair for the dramatic as Pedro Garcia scored in the final minute of stoppage time to earn the tie against Santana, the Premier A bracket champions at the Grossmont Holiday Classic.
Last Saturday’s semifinal match against the resurgent Barons was no different.
Bonita Vista, which defeated Valley Center and Granite Hills in pool play by scores of 1-0 and 7-2, respectively, carried a 2-0 lead on goals by D.J. Provencher and Alex Castro deep into second half play.
But Marcelo Machaen scored on successive penalty kicks with nine and four minutes to play in regulation to abruptly knot the teams in a 2-2 standoff.
The first seven-and-a-half-minute golden goal overtime period was scoreless. San Ysidro emerged with what might seem a miraculous win after Ramirez scored just 30 seconds into the second overtime period.
The tournament wins over Hilltop and Bonita Vista were “huge” for the team, according to Lomeli.
“I would call it an awakening,” Lomeli said. “The boys were awakened. They never said die.”
Despite the rough start to the season, Lomeli said his group continues to draw inspiration from San Ysidro’s CIF championship teams in 2014 (Division IV) and 2015 (Division III).
“We have a goal to hopefully get to the finals and win it all,” Lomeli said.
Barons coach Jason Murphy had seen his team rise from an equally rough start to the season (1-4-1) to earn a berth in the tournament’s Premier Division playoffs.
Rene Sanchez scored the game-winning goal in Bonita Vista’s pool opener against Valley Center on Dec. 23 while goalkeeper Alejandro Sanchez recorded the shutout.
Provencher scored three goals in the win over Granite Hills while teammate Isaac Escamilla scored two goals. Abram Medina and Andrew Villareal both scored single goals.
“In the tournament we found our stride,” said Murphy, whose team will close out tournament play with a consolation match against UCSD Preuss on Jan. 11.
The Eagles — off to an 0-3-2 start before entering the Hilltop tournament — rebounded in major fashion from their lopsided loss to the Barons with the come-from-behind win over Hilltop in the semifinals.
Granite Hills definitely played with much more energy and purpose after being humbled by the Barons two days earlier.
However, the Eagles had to battle back for their biggest win of the season after Hilltop took a 1-0 lead eight minutes into the second half after top scorer Gael Ruiz curved in a corner kick high inside the near post.
Eagles senior captain Robert Webb scored the final two goals of the match.
Webb tied the score, 1-1, on a speedy a counter-attack with 26 minutes left in regulation time and netted what proved to be the game-winning goal eight minutes later on a penalty kick.
Webb had scored both Granite Hills goals in the preceding loss to Bonita Vista, including one on a penalty kick and the other on a direct free kick.
“We really needed this win,” Webb said. “We came out very business-like. We knew we had to rebound in a big way to get this win. We did it.”
Salts called the loss to the Eagles, who entered the game with only one regular season win to their credit, “frustrating.”
“It was a very physical game — it knocked our players off their game plan,” the Hilltop coach said.
Granite Hills will rematch with Montgomery in the upcoming tournament finals after the Aztecs defeated the Eagles, 2-0, in pool play at the preceding Grossmont Holiday Classic.
Montgomery improved to 6-2-3 on the season after topping Lincoln, 1-0, on a penalty kick by Ruben Jocobo in the first minute of regulation. Goalkeepers Ivan Alarcon and Yahir Lopez shared the shutout win.
“We’re off to a great start,” Aztec head coach Adrian Trujillo said. “We have a great group of seniors who are leading us in the field and in the classroom. This being my first year, this is still a process. We’re working on it.”
Montgomery (1-0-2 in the tournament) reeled off a six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1) earlier this season.
Henoc Samba spearheads the Aztec offense with 10 goals in 11 games.
Corner kicks
Patrick Henry defeated Preuss, 6-0, in the Premier Division semifinals to advance to meet San Ysidro in the finals.
Calexico edged Otay Ranch, 2-1, while Valley Center upset Santana, 3-0, in a pair of Green Division semifinal matches.
Eight additional junior varsity and freshman teams competed in the tournament.
Junior varsity and freshman division finals were completed last Saturday. Hilltop edged Bonita Vista, 2-1, to win the JV title while Eastlake defeated Scripps Ranch to win the freshman division championship.
