By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
Trailing 1-0 at halftime of last Wednesday’s City Division I first-round game against No. 1-seeded Marquez, the Palisades High boys soccer seemed poised for an upset. The Dolphins were trying to avenge a 4-1 loss at the South East Classic in December and first-year head coach Marvin Lemus, a former Dolphins player himself, was feeling confident.
“Our gameplan coming in was working until we fell asleep on the first goal,” Lemus said. “They got a flukish goal and that changes everything, but we were only down one and we were right there. I remember losing at Banning my senior year and it always hurts when your season’s over.”
Brian Gonzalez scored on a header in the 29th minute and tallied again on a rebound off a corner kick in the 56th minute. One minute later, he was fouled in the penalty area, teammate Andres Bravo converted the penalty kick and just like that the Gladiators led 3-0. Rafael Arzete rocketed a shot off the crossbar with 17n minutes left and Marquez would got on to eliminate the 16th-seeded Dolphins 4-0 despite fine play by goalkeeper Ethan Todd.
“Are they super talented? No, but they’re the No. 1 seed because they keep creating opportunities and they don’t let up,” Lemus said. “They’re a harder working team than us. I learned a lot this first year, but I had a lot of sleepless nights. My objective— our objective—is to win City.”
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