Early and late scoring flurries Tuesday pushed Taft College into the semi-finals of the northern California men’s soccer playoffs.
Sophomore midfielder Miguel Ibarra scored goals at the 10th and 14th minutes for an early lead that paved the way for the Cougars’ 5-0 rout of visiting West Hills-Lemoore.
“They tried to man up on him, but he’s so hard to maintain,” head coach Angelo Cutrona said of Ibarra.
It was 2-0 at the half and remained that way until Sergio Cedano’s goal in the 69th minute unleashed a three-goal spree that buried the Golden Eagles.
The win sets up a semi-final match on the Cougars’ home field Saturday at 2 p.m. against the Modesto-Santa Rosa quarterfinal winner.
Santa Rosa eliminated the Cougars in last year’s playoffs.
“I’m proud of the way we played today,” said Cutrona. “The energy level was up from minute one and stayed up.”
Ibarra got things going with a header off a pass from Chris Sandoval, then made it 2-0 four minutes later by sending a free kick from Alex Caceres into the left side of the net.
Cedano took a crossing pass from the right side off the foot of Miguel Cortez following a throw-in near the Golden Eagle goal and scored in close for a 3-0 lead.
In the 78th minute, Ivan Dominguez took a pass from Greg Quintero and drilled a crossing shot from the right side into the left corner of the net.
A minute later Antonio Gonzalez took a pass from Dominguez, eluded defender Juan Camino and scored an easy goal from in close.
The lopsided win allowed Cutrona to get everyone into the action.
“We were able to clear out the bench and still maintain,” he said. “I’m very happy with them right now. But, we have a difficult road ahead of us. We know that.”
Cutrona was pleased with his defense.
“Our defense played really well. McKeen (Akwaja) and Aurelio (Sanchez) were really solid in the back.
The win was a rubber match between the teams, who split 3-1 decisions in Central Valley Conference play.
The Cougars are 16-5-1 and ranked No. 1 in the state and are trying to get back to the Final Four.
They made it to that elite group in 2006 and 2007, finishing runner-up the first time and winning a state championship the second trip.
A win Saturday will send them back. The state championships will be played Dec. 4 and 6 at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento.
