Girls soccer: LB Wilson suffers first loss, sort of, one of many upsets in first day of Excalibur
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Long Beach Wilson started the season 11-0-2. They won two huge tournaments along the way and also beat league rivals Jordan and Cabrillo by a combined score of 15-0 last week to start Moore League play.
But all of that didn’t mean much this afternoon as the Bruins were eliminated in the first round of the Excalibur Tournament by Santa Margarita, on penalty kicks, 8-7. No goals were scored in regulation.
The Bruins (11-0-3) will not be charged with a loss, though. Officially the game will go down as a 0-0
draw. According to Wilson Coach Jason Kirkwood, both teams only missed once during the first five PKs to send the match into sudden death. When it got to the eighth round, Bruins goalkeeper Lacey Heck made a save. Santa Margarita (6-1-3) kept the drama going when their goalkeeper stopped the next shot.
-- Image from http://www.wilson83.com
In the 10th round, Wilson missed their kick wide and Santa Margarita made theirs. Game over. The Eagles advance in the championship bracket. Wilson is relegated to the consolation bracket.
The Bruins’ failure to advance was one of many upsets in the first day of action. Esperanza, the No. 1 team in Orange County, according to the OC Register, lost to Beckman, 2-0. Cathedral Catholic and Woodbridge also lost in PKs.
Kirkwood said the conditions at Foothill High were not the best -- strong winds, hard fields and the long layoff all contributed to the upsets.
How are the Bruins reacting to their first loss?
‘I don’t know. We’re going to find out tomorrow,’ Kirkwood said. Wilson plays Woodbridge at 8 a.m., if they win they’ll play the winner of Cathedral Catholic-Fullerton at 12:30. ‘It’s frustrating because of all the other factors.’
Kirkowood said the timing of this tournament is not good and, because teams don’t get to practice as much heading into the matches, ‘it evens the field.’
‘I just got back yesterday. I was off for a week,’ he said. ‘It takes a little from the good teams.’
Because of all the upsets, the consolation final (which could be Esperanza against LB Wilson) might be just as entertaining (if not more) than the actual championship game. The consolation final is on Saturday at 2 p.m., the championship final is on the same day at 2:30 p.m.
Of the teams still alive in the championship bracket, the favorites are: defending tournament champion Buena, host Foothill, Santa Margarita, Tesoro, Trabucco Hills, San Clemente and Los Alamitos. Buena and Foothill, though, had yet to play at the time this blog was posted. They could lose in the first round, and, the way this day is going, it wouldn’t be much of an upset if they did.
-- Jaime Cardenas