Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Birmingham soccer puts on a show as it crushes Mater Dei in SoCal regionals

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VAN NUYS — The Birmingham boys soccer team turned its home field into its own stage Tuesday against Mater Dei, a bigger and more physical team than the other teams the Patriots had faced this season.

Birmingham was simply better. Much better.

The Patriots, led by senior Noel Ortega and sophomore Anthony Miron, electrified their home crowd with three goals in the first half as Birmingham routed Mater Dei 5-2 in the first round of the CIF Southern Regional Division I playoffs.

Ortega, who is committed to Cornell, gave Birmingham (21-4-3) a 1-0 lead in the second minute of the contest. Ortega received a ball crossed halfway across the field from center back Oscar Nolasco. It was a ball that couldn’t have been delivered any better. Ortega found himself alone and struck the first goal.

It was redemption for Ortega, who had to sit out the CIF LA City Section final against San Fernando on Friday after receiving two yellow cards in the semifinals.

By sitting out Friday’s match. Ortega had fresh legs Tuesday.

“I just wanted to make sure I got my team going,” Ortega said. “It sucked that I didn’t get to play because I wanted to be there to help my team. So I had to come out and get my team started off right.”

What followed was a purely clinical display from Birmingham, seeded fourth for the regionals after winning the the City Section Division 1 title. The passes, connections and runs by the Patriots seemingly caught Mater Dei off guard.

Ortega found freshman David Diaz for a two-on-one breakaway in the 32nd minute to give the Patriots a 2-0 lead.

Miron scored a few minutes later to make it 3-0.

“It’s fun when everyone is just playing together, and I think the reason why we connect so well is because we spend so much time off the field,” Diaz said. “Then we get on the field and we just make plays for each other. It’s fun soccer.”

Birmingham will play at top-seeded San Clemente in the regional semifinals Thursday.

Mater Dei (17-4-6), seeded fifth after making it to the CIF-SS Division 1 semifinals, gave itself a chance in the 53rd minute when Steven McKimmey was left unmarked and he scored on a corner kick to make it 3-1.

Birmingham spent 10 minutes in the second half looking like the team of inexperience. The defensive backfield began to lose shape and Mater Dei began to find its rhythm in the backfield. Birmingham was also without Nolasco, who suffered a head injury in the 23rd minute.

“I thought we just started to panic a little bit,” coach EB Madha said. “Once we settled down and worked through our spell I thought we were fine in the final 20 minutes. The first half of soccer we played was what we want to strive for always.”

Ortega was able to restore order after making a run down field and being fouled in the box in the 60th minute. Ricky Nino scored the penalty kick and Birmingham had regained its composure to built its lead to 4-1.

The fireworks went off in the 72nd minute when Miron scored an elite-level goal from 27 yards out. Miron maneuvered through traffic, struck the ball and it curled under the crossbar and into the back of the net.

“With shots like that, it’s just about keeping focus and remaining calm,” Miron said. “It’s something I practice, and seeing it go in summed up how well we played.”

In the Division II regional:

San Fernando boys soccer topped Ridgeview 2-1.

Harvard-Westlake girls soccer advanced to the Division I semifinals after an overtime goal from Kerry Neil gave the Wolverines a 3-2 win over Carlsbad.

Academy of Our Lady of Peace beat Granada Hills girls soccer 6-0.


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