LAGUNA HILLS – The emotions belied the reality after the final whistle sounded. Laguna Hills players were heartbroken, in tears. Fullerton players were disappointed, but eventually joyful.
After a full season and 90 minutes, the two best teams in the Golden West League were tied on the scoreboard and the standings for first place
A furious second-half comeback while playing a man short – on the road, no less – led to Fullerton’s remarkable 2-2 tie with Laguna Hills on Wednesday.
Both teams finished league play 4-2-2. Laguna Hills (8-3-5 overall) won the previous meeting, 3-2, in a back and forth battle.
This one was a tale of two halves, the first belonging to the hosts, the second to the visitors. It yielded a tie as both teams head into the CIF-SS playoffs that begin next week.
Despite being down by two goals at halftime, Fullerton (8-6-4 overall) nearly won it in regulation, but Nicholas Ponce’s shot from seven yards with about five seconds remaining was knocked away by Laguna Hills goalkeeper Blake Reyes.
“Probably the biggest save of the year,” Reyes said of his game-deciding effort.
Reyes and his teammates dominated the first half. The Hawks scored at 8 minutes on a free kick by Noah Morrison, and in the 31st minute on Charlie Harris’ crossing shot that went inside the left post.
Four minutes into the second half, a goal by Fullerton’s Luke Buehler was disallowed because of a penalty.
About two minutes later, Fullerton’s Logan Maggio was red-carded, an event that turned the tide of momentum and emotion even more so in favor of the Indians.
Fullerton midfielder Eddie Evaristo scored on a penalty kick in the 56th minute to make it 2-1.
In the 69th minute, Ponce’s crossing pass to Ibrahima Faye was blasted for the tying goal.
At that point, it was anyone’s game, but momentum was clearly with Fullerton, whose sideline felt it was battling referees as well.
At one point, officials claimed Fullerton fans were blowing a whistle in the stands and separately issued a yellow card on an adult on the sidelines who was not dressed in Fullerton colors and didn’t appear to be an official member of the team.
For a few minutes, it was a sloppy mess. But when the action resumed, Laguna Hills finally found its footing in the final stages. It dominated the last seven minutes, but Fullerton’s Alejandro Quintero saved a penalty kick, and added another easy save with less than three minutes remaining.
“When Alejandro blocked the penalty kick, that was the game-winner,” Fullerton coach George Shumaker said after his program – which he has headed since the mid-1990s – won a share of a 10th league title. “That’s why they were all crying. They were expecting to blow us up and that didn’t happen.”
Though Fullerton had appeared to lose all the juice it had in the first 30 minutes of the second half, it had one final run in it, but Laguna Hills’ Reyes got the biggest save of his career when he blocked Ponce’s shot with five ticks to go.
“The tide turned when they got red-carded,” said Laguna Hills coach Christian Castro after his team won a title for the first time since 2008. “I felt we got overly confident in that situation, that this game was done and dusted. But this game is 80 minutes long. It’s not about playing 20 minutes, or playing 10 minutes, but playing a full 80 minutes, and that’s something we couldn’t do today.”
Each side played about 40 minutes, and it turned out to be a joyous tear-jerker.