Soccer Squads Out of City Playoffs

One half away from the City Section semifinals, the Palisades High boys’ soccer team finally ran out of magic. Locke scored two goals in the second half to break a 1-1 tie and shock the Dolphins, 3-1, on a rainy afternoon last Wednesday at Stadium by the Sea. “We had a good season but this hurts right now because we had a golden opportunity to make the finals,” Palisades senior forward Charlie Bailey said. “We just didn’t play our game today.” After falling behind 1-0 on a header in the 19th minute Palisades tied it 14 minutes later when Jesse Vasquez one-timed a skipping corner kick from fellow senior Max Ledesma into the net. However, the 18th-seeded Saints (10-8-2) took control in the second half, regaining the lead in the 60th minute on a corner kick and striking again in the 81st minute on a penalty kick after goalie Casey Jordan deliberately fouled Jose Arias in the 18-yard box to prevent a sure goal. It was the first time all season the No. 7-seeded Dolphins (9-2-5) allowed three goals in a game. “I don’t think that team was better than us, we just made two mistakes on defense and to their credit they capitalized on them.” The next day it was the girls’ turn to step up their game in the quarterfinals but they, too, had trouble finishing chances and fell by the same 3-1 score at No. 4 San Pedro. The fifth-seeded Dolphins (16-6-2) had the wind at their backs in the first half and generated the better chances, yet found themselves trailing at halftime 1-0 thanks to a Rio Pace goal in the 8th minute. Courtney Bradford added two goals in the second half for the Pirates (16-6-1)’the second on a penalty kick in the 54th minute. Junior captain Kathryn Gaskin lofted a shot over the head of Pirates’ goalie Daniela Barrantes from 25 yards out to break the shutout two minutes from full time. “It’s a narrower field than ours but we still could’ve played the ball wide,” said Gaskin, who finished the season as the Dolphins’ top scorer with 27 goals and 11 assists. “Brittany [Aliado] and Tiffany [Falk] did a good job of marking their top scorer. This was a better team than the ones we’ve been playing lately. I couldn’t just turn with it like I usually do.” sports@palipost.com