Foothill Puts Up Fight, but Wilson Prevails
LONG BEACH — The game was two goals shy of ending like a dream. But Foothill just couldn’t hang on and Long Beach Wilson successfully defended its Division I Southern Section title in a 9-8 overtime victory Wednesday night at Belmont Plaza Pool.
“My kids were awesome,” Foothill Coach Jim Brumm said. “They played with a lot of heart and emotion against a great team. I’m so proud of them.”
Jeff Nesmith scored the winner with 3 minutes 18 seconds left in overtime after Foothill’s Matt Ellis was ejected, leaving Wilson a man up. From then on, Wilson played solid defense, allowing Foothill only three shots until time expired.
This was the fourth appearance in a Division I final for Wilson Coach Ricardo Azevedo But after Wednesday’s game, he could only shake his head at Foothill.
“This by far was the best game I’ve ever coached. It went into overtime and it involved two great teams. I have nothing but respect for Foothill. They have a great team and they came to play,” Azevedo said.
Before the game, Wilson seemed cocky and a confident Azevedo said his team was ready to play. And when the game started, it took less than a minute before Wilson started to play that same old tune as they scored first on Ryan Brown’s goal. But Matt McPherson came right back to score for Foothill less than a minute later.
Greg Feldman put Wilson ahead, 2-1, after taking a pass from Albert Garcia with 46 seconds left in the first quarter. Nesmith scored Wilson’s third goal when Wilson had the man advantage following the ejection of Robby Arroyo.
At this point, Wilson was poised to run away with the game, but Foothill was awarded back-to-back penalty shots and Arroyo made both of them to tie the score, 3-3.
With seconds left in the first half, Scott Miller scored his first goal for Wilson to give the Bruins a 4-3 lead. But Arroyo scored his third goal of the evening to tie the score, 4-4, to end the half.
Foothill came out strong in the third quarter as McPherson recorded his second goal of the game. Teammates Nick Pirro and Eitan Goldstein followed with goals to give the Knights an 8-4 lead. Sophomore Tony Azevedo was able to get a goal in the last minute to make it a three-goal game.
The fourth quarter proved to be the turning point for Wilson as Mike Komrosky scored back-to-back goals to come within one goal of Foothill. Azevedo sent the game into overtime on a penalty shot with two minutes left in regulation.
“When I called a timeout near the end of the game, I told my kids to let all the emotion out. And that’s just what they did,” Azevedo said. “They played with emotion and were able to come back from being down by four points. If that’s not emotion, then I don’t know what is.”
Nick Ellis recorded 13 saves for Foothill and Jaison Robinson had 11.
Foothill ended the season 24-5, Wilson finished 28-1.
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