Christopher’s magical run in the Central Coast Section playoffs came to a heartbreaking and sudden end.
Alvarez scored goals in the 34th and 40th minutes to push past the Cougars 2-1 and end Christopher’s first foray into the playoffs Wednesday at Valley Christian.
The Cougars end the season 13-2-3 overall that included a series of firsts for the program, including a first league title, first CCS appearance and first CCS win.
And the players didn’t want that special season to end.
“We had set in the preseason because we knew we had a good team we said we wanted to win league for the first time in Cougar history and go to CCS for the first time in school history,” said coach Ricardo Espinosa. “And we more than achieved that, so once we were in CCS and we went through the first round and the second round and got to the semis, that’s all gravy. I am so proud of them.
“…They are very sad right now, but they poured their hearts out.”
They sat or stood stunned on their sidelines repeating how they couldn’t believe the season was over.
“We just knew once we reached CCS, we had to play every game like it was the finals because no one was going to believe we were going to make it this far,” said keeper Carlos Arroyo. “We came against Los Gatos and we beat them. Then we came against Santa Teresa and we (got past them) and we made it the farthest we’ve ever been.”
Arroyo let out a sigh of frustration and added, “You win some and you lose some, that’s football. Alvarez had the best night and they came out and beat us 2-1-.”
And for the first 20 minutes of the game, the Cougars believed their season would survive for one more game.
Trevor Robledo scored a redirect goal off a back kick on a shot from deep outside the box in the 14th minute.
“He’s definitely going to be one to watch. He is a freshman and this season he tore it up. He was the leading scorer of the team as a freshman, so that says a lot,” Espinosa said.
And given the first 20 minutes of the game, it looked like that score was going to hold.
“For the first 20 minutes, we had full possession. We had four or five (people) in front of the goal. We should have had another,” Espinosa said. “But that’s what happens. That’s soccer.”
In fact, in the 16th minute, Christopher nearly went up 2-0.
Off the restart, the Cougars got the ball deep into the Eagle zone and a pair of point-blank shots were turned aside by the Alvarez keeper.
“We created chances and I told the kids to hold their heads up because you guys are unbelievable,” Espinosa said. “I’m just sad for our seniors, but they’ve gone farther than anyone thought we would.”
It might have been at that point the momentum started to shift.
After their goal, the Cougars had six shots on target and all six were blocked.
And little-by-little Alvarez started to push deeper into the Cougars’ zone.
Eventually Alvarez was awarded a free kick at the top of the penalty box and Omar Aguilar’s shot took an awkward deflection and there was nothing the Cougars could do but watch the ball roll into the net.
That tied the game in the 34th minute, but Alvarez wasn’t done pushing ahead.
In the 40th minute. Luis Andrade cleaned up a wild sequence that just a split second earlier featured the best save of the game.
Alvarez came charging in on a counter attack and the Eagles got the ball around Christopher keeper Arroyo but the Cougars had a defender on the spot to clear the ball, but it didn’t go out.
Alvarez got the ball in front of the net where Andrade punched it in for a 2-1 lead.
That’s where the game stood into the second half.
As the precious minutes ticked away, Christopher’s pressure on Alvarez rose, but the Eagles’ defense didn’t yield.
The Cougars had a great chance early in the half on a rebound chance, but the ball sailed over the net.
Despite eight minutes of stoppage time, the Cougars weren’t able to score the equalizer and the disappointed bodies lay on the turf of Valley Christian in exhaustion and heartbreak.
Arroyo said he’s excited for where things will go for Christopher in the future.
“We just put CHS soccer on the map as far as CCS,” Arroyo said. “There will be generations to come, but we were the first ones to show where we could go and we had a group of guys who gave it all they got every minute they played.”
