In the opening moment of Thursday night’s semifinal tilt with visiting No. 4 Liberty Ranch, top-seeded Lathrop fired a bomb that went in and out of the hands of the Hawks goalie, dribbling just outside the upright.
The Spartans would only get one more good shot at the net, as defending Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV champion Liberty Ranch escaped the slick field at Bennie Gatto Field with a 3-0 win.
The Hawks’ return to the final is on Saturday night at 7 against East Union in Hughes Stadium at Sacramento City College.
Thursday’s game was the second in as many nights for Lathrop (17-5-1), which had to postpone its quarterfinal contest from Tuesday to Wednesday due to weather.
“We have been a team throughout the season that has managed the workload and managed periodization as far as training and overload of the games,” Spartans coach Alfredo Reynaga said. “I think the back-to-back games played a big factor, but like I told the kids right now, we are not going to make excuses. That’s not the way we have been rolling all year.
“It is what it is. Is it tough? Yeah, it is tough going back-to-back. They came ready, and we made a silly mistake early in the game, and that kind of changed the momentum, because we had them on their heels in the beginning.
That took the air away from us offensively, and it was hard to recover, particularly this deep in the playoffs against a good team. We even tried to make adjustments on our formation.”
The Hawks (18-5-1) of Galt scored eight minutes into the game when Christian Maciel got loose in front of the Lathrop goal and found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. Midway through the second half, Alan Montelongo scored off of a teammate’s direct kick and with five minutes left in the game Evan Rangel capped the scoring with a bullet off of the wing.
“We kind of came in last year as an underdog,” Liberty Ranch coach Garett Arechiga said. “But this year, we have been going through the whole season with a target on our back, and definitely proud of the way these boys have responded. The hardest thing to do is to come back and do it again.
“With the way the weather has been this week, we benefited from them playing last night. We came in on fresh legs, and they started strong, but I think the back-to-back games are going to kill anyone, especially in the playoffs. I am proud of both sides, but definitely proud of those Liberty Ranch boys.”
