On Friday night, the Islanders boys soccer team had the opportunity to continue their undefeated season at the CIF Open Division Final.
However, facing off against San Pasqual High School, the Islanders would be without a pair of key players. Dylan Noble was sidelined for the match with a knee injury, and despite an appeal, Jack Hunt unfortunately had to miss the game due to a Red Card in the team’s semifinal match.
But with the amount of depth and talent on this Islander team, there was no question they would still be up to the task.
The Islanders did an excellent job of controlling early attacks to start the match. Nick Lorr, Garrett Sauter, and Connor Buckley’s speed and play-making ability proved critical as each was able to fire off a shot in the first 12 minutes of the match.
Coronado’s aggressiveness was also seen in the backline. Landon Mullins, Ethan Hickey, and Conner Mattick all did a fine job keeping the San Pasqual attack at bay in the opening minutes.
It would appear that the Islanders’ aggressive play would start the scoring on the night when Dylan Groeneveld challenged the keeper on a 50/50 ball inside the box. Despite the ball finding the back of the net, Groeneveld was called for a questionable yellow card that negated the goal.
The yellow card would be one of three given to the Islanders on Friday night, all of which seemed unnecessary. And while one never likes to hand out blame to officials, it is hard to overlook the foul disparity between the two teams on Friday night. Count awarded San Pasqual ten fouls while Coronado was only awarded four. A fairly lopsided number.
Elsewhere on the field, Islander keeper Tony Miley had a remarkable first half. Miley made several acrobatic saves on several first-half shots to keep the game level at 0-0 for much of the first half.
However, despite the fine play in the net, San Pasqual would find the opening goal in the 34th minute to take the early 1-0 lead. Coronado would generate one or two more attacks before the end of the half, but neither would end in shots on goal, thus leaving the game at 1-0 heading to the half.
Already down 1-0 heading into the second half, things would become even more difficult just eight minutes in. While going in for a slide tackle, it appeared that Ethan Hickey’s foot made accidental contact with San Pasqual player. Hickey, who had one yellow card already in the first half, was given a second following the slide tackle, thus giving him a red card. As a result, the Islanders had to play without one of their best defenders and a man down for the remainder of the match.
Despite what many would now consider insurmountable circumstances, the Islanders continued to battle, almost seeming to be fueled by the fact that they were playing with just eight men on the pitch.
In the following minutes, Coronado’s attack fired off shots in the 53rd and 55th minutes, one from Buckley and the other from Groeneveld. But it would not be until the 64th when the Islanders would find their equalizer.
While on the run on goal Dylan Groeneveld was fouled a few yards outside the box, thus earning a free kick from 28 yards out. The junior took a breath, lined up, and fired a bullet off his left foot past the keeper and into the top right corner of the goal, tying the game at 1-1 with 16 minutes to play.
Unfortunately, the elation was somewhat short-lived as just six minutes later, in the 71st, San Pasqual netted a go-ahead goal and made it a 2-1 game.
Over the final nine minutes plus stoppage time, Coronado had a few looks at goal via corner kicks in the 74th and 77th minutes, but neither resulted in goals. Thus the Islanders fell 2-1 in the Open Division Championship.
Despite the loss, the 2021-2022 Islanders squad will go down as one of the greatest in CHS soccer history as they finished with:
- An undefeated regular season record of 15-0-2.
- And undefeated record at home of 9-0 (10-0 if you include the home playoff victory).
- And earned a high ranking of No. 2 In San Diego County.
The team’s season is not quite over yet however, as with the second-place finish in the Open Division Playoffs, they have qualified for CIF State Regional Playoffs. Seedings will be announced soon.
