Wilson High eliminates Paloma Valley from soccer playoffs

By Doug Spoon, Editor

As Paloma Valley boys soccer coach Carlos Duran said, it could’ve gone either way. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, visiting Wilson High of Hacienda Heights came away with a 1-0 victory Wednesday in the first round of the CIF Division 6 playoffs.

Senior midfielder Richard Contreras scored the game’s only goal on a rebound shot early in the second half and Wilson held on for the victory, improving its record to 10-7-5. Paloma Valley ends one of its finest seasons ever with a 15-4-3 mark.

The host team dominated play for the first several minutes, keeping the ball in the Wilson zone with crisp passing, but few scoring opportunities. Things began to even out as Wilson started to win battles at midfield, but the first half ended in a scoreless tie.

That ended a few minutes into the second half when Contreras, position to the right side of the box, punched in a rebound past Paloma goalkeeper Jan Yu. There was still plenty of time to play, however, and Paloma had several good scoring chances in the next few minutes.

First, however, Yu made a big save on a shot that he tipped over the top of the net. That set the stage for several potentially game-tying goals by Paloma.

A shot by Nathan Alvarado was wide, a header was just wide moments later, and a header by Ryan Pruitt off a corner kick was saved by Wilson goalkeeper Jacob Cristo in the closing minutes. Several attempts by the Wildcats to move the ball deep in the Wilson zone failed as time ran out.

“It could’ve gone either way,” said Duran. “They just had a lucky streak there and were able to capitalize on it. We had multiple opportunities to score and just didn’t close the deal. I think that was the difference.

“One of the problems was that once their center midfielders get the ball, the moment they had a little space, they pushed the ball to the wings. They have very fast wings. That allowed some of those dangerous plays you saw. We gave them too much breathing room and they were able to send players forward.”

Overall, Duran had praise for a team that won six of its last eight games this season.

“I’m extremely proud of these young men,” he said. “This school had never won 15 games in its history and they did that this year. They came together. It’s hard to put a team together that’s had different coaching staffs the last four years. We changed the coaching environment and built pretty good chemistry with them.”