Boys soccer: Rea advances to DP Cup semifinals

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - “Man am I nervous,” was uttered more than once during

Saturday’s Daily Pilot Cup boys fifth- and sixth-grade quarterfinals

matchup between Rea and Lincoln at Kaiser Elementary.

And that was from the parents.

The youngsters were as cool as cucumbers during the nonstop action,

which had to be decided by penalty kicks.

When the smoke cleared, Rea advanced to today’s semifinals, which

began at 9:30 a.m. at The Farm Complex.

Rea jumped out to a 1-0 lead, thanks to a goal by Edgar Rodriguez, but

Lincoln refused to go away.

Allan Hardison’s shot found the back of the net minutes later, tying

the game and sending it into overtime.

Both teams battled hard in the two 10-minute overtimes. Rea goalie

Chris Pizarro made several nice saves, as did Lincoln keeper Jonathan

Hange.

In the penalty kick portion of the contest, Lincoln had the early edge

when a Rea shot found the right goal post instead the back of the net.

The “Law of Averages” found its way back on the side of Rea when a

Lincoln PK shot off the crossbar, forcing sudden-death penalty kicks.

Pizarro made a huge save on Lincoln’s first sudden-death shot. He read

where the ball was going and managed to bend his body the right shape,

keeping the ball out of the goal.

That’s when Rea’s Rene Romero stepped up and ripped a shot into the

upper-right portion of the net, giving Rea the win.

According to the Rea coaching staff, win or lose, the team is

pizza-bound (or some other food item) after today’s matchups.