LJ b soccer 1, Serra 1 (OT) (LJ wins by kicks)

Viking goalie Tai Nguyen lies on the ground after

blocking Serra's Richard Gaeta's kick in a shootout.

La Jolla won the shootout 6-5 to advance to the

CIF finals Saturday. (Photo by Ed Piper)



By Ed Piper

In a dramatic finish to over two hours of soccer, La Jolla goalie Tai Nguyen blocked the sixth of Serra's kicks in a shootout after a 1-1 tie through overtime Wed., March 2, placing the Vikings boys team in the CIF finals for the first time in 18 years.

"It's La Jolla's first time in the CIF finals since 1998," said senior defender Noah Shen, who booted in the third of the Vikings' kicks past Conquistador keeper David Gasca. "The kicks...I wouldn't say it's fun. It's nerve-wracking."

La Jolla (6-8-5) squares off against Lincoln (10-7-6), which upset number-one seed Preuss, in the Division 4 championship game Sat., March 5, at Olympian High at 11 a.m.

Coach Marcos Gonzales' team's win makes two LJHS teams qualifying for the finals two nights in a row: The Vikings boys basketball team beat West Hills the night before, 51-44, to go into the Division 2 championship Friday night at 6 p.m. at Jenny Craig Pavilion on the USD campus.

La Jolla, which in a strange twist was playing its home game on the road at Serra due to construction on Edwards Stadium, sent its first five kickers to face Gasca after a 15-minute overtime failed to result in a goal for either team.

First, seniors Davor Ivanov, Gilberto Hinojoza, and Shen successfully delivered as their turns came. Then junior Jack Barone, who returned after being out with an injury for most of February to score the Vikings' lone goal in their quarterfinal win over Crawford Saturday, knocked his kick in. He was followed by sophomore Marco Furlanis.

Meanwhile, the Q's were shooting bullets, too, not missing against Nguyen in the first five kicks of the FIFA-style shootout.

Captain Andrew Estrella, who scored the Vikings' only goal in regulation time on an assist by Cesar Canton in the sixth minute of the second half, had been pulled from the game--twice--due to cramps in both calves. Otherwise, the junior would have been among the first five in the shootout for La Jolla.

With the two teams' tied in successful kicks, 5-5, after staying knotted through two halves plus the overtime, Viking junior defender Takunai Nishikawa took his place in front of the goal for the next kick. He put it in past a diving Gasca.

Finally, as Serra's Gaeta prepared for his kick, Nguyen raised both arms to the sky and said something. He blocked Gaeta's attempt, and the Viking squad raced from midfield to mob Nguyen and celebrate their win.

Said Nguyen amid the hoopla, "First one to make that mistake. We'll pounce on that!" He had said before the game that the key to which team won would be which one made fewer mistakes.