Slow Start Dooms Pali High Soccer

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

If the Palisades High boys soccer team played the first 60 minutes of Tuesday’s game at Santa Barbara the way it played the last 20, perhaps the Dolphins would be moving on in the Southern California Regional Division I playoffs.

Instead, the Dolphins are going home after spotting the Dons a three-goal lead in a disappointing 3-1 defeat in the first-round matchup at Santa Barbara High. Palisades (19-3-2) entered the game having allowed only 12 goals in 23 games, but surrendered two in the first 18 minutes against the Southern Section Division 1 finalists.

Tanner Mees blasted in a pass from Celso Lagunas off a corner kick in the 13th minute and five minutes later Lagunas scored on an assist from Peter Ruiz for fourth-seeded Santa Barbara (23-6-3), which advanced to a semifinal meeting with second-seeded Cathedral Catholic of San Diego.

“Palisades is a very good team and should be very proud of representing their section,” Santa Barbara Coach Todd Heil said. “We didn’t know much about them, but I saw that they beat Granada Hills, which was very highly-ranked. We didn’t play well in the [Southern Section] finals against Loyola so we wanted to get off to a fast start today and we did.”

Santa Barbara was awarded a penalty kick 10 minutes into the second half but the attempt was wide, giving the Dolphins hope for a comeback. However, a sign that it was not Palisades’ day came moments later when a corner kick deflected off a defender for an own-goal that extended the Dons’ lead to 3-0.

Sensing their season slipping away, the fifth-seeded Dolphins played with desperation from then on. Spencer Tidball broke in alone but shot the ball right at goalkeeper Juan Santana, who went to his knees to make the save from point-blank range.

Finally, with the clock ticking under six minutes, Chad Johnson got fouled in the 18-yard box and was awarded a penalty kick. He cooly fired the ball into the lower right corner of the net to trim the Dolphins’ deficit to two goals.

Palisades, which had won its first City Section title three days earlier, earned three set pieces deep in Dons territory in the last five minutes but was unable to convert any into goals on the slippery natural grass field.

“This is definitely a team we could’ve beaten if we brought the same intensity that we brought to most of our games,” said Pali High goalkeeper Cole Llorens, one of seven seniors playing their last game in a Dolphins uniform. “It hasn’t sunk in yet that it’s over. Some of these guys I’ve played four years with  so I’m going to miss seeing them everyday in practice but at the end of the day we can say we are City champions and that’s something we can all revel in.”