Deadlocked by penalty kicks, it took a brilliant cross and finish in the run of play to decide East Union’s 2-1 victory at Sierra on Tuesday.
In the 56th minute, Anthony Sy delivered a left-footed, curling cross from the right touch line into box with Gio Perez streaking to the far post. Perez controlled it with an impressive first touch with his right foot and chipped it past Sierra goalkeeper Aiden Dolin-Lira for the go-ahead.
“I just had to keep my eyes on it to make that first touch,” Perez said. “Once I got that, I just flicked it with my left.”
The junior wing forward finished with a brace, adding to his season tally that ranks him among the best in the state. According to stats reported to MaxPreps, Perez had the second most points in the Sac-Joaquin Section and third most in California going into the match.
While Perez has one eye on scoring titles, VOL and SJS championships are the main goals. His Lancers (3-0-0, 15-4-4 overall) are at the top of the league and have away wins over both of their in-city rivals.
“It was a hard-fought game, but we came out on top,” Perez said. “It was a big win. We need every one we could get to help us secure a No. 1 (seed) for Sections.”
East Union coach Ronnie Green knows his squad got away with one. Although the Lancers outshot the home side 18-13, Sierra (1-2-0, 4-6-0) had the better chances.
“They gave us all we could handle tonight,” he said. “The game could have gone either way. They had opportunities, we had opportunities, ours just went in. Rankings and records don’t mean anything when you play a rival.”
Working off through balls, Victor Mejia Martinez and A.J. Paz each had great looks on breakaways in the opening minutes but pushed their shots wide. Alexis Berber, Jorge Reyes and Diego Casillas had near misses within the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Reyes put away Sierra’s only goal with a penalty kick in the 38th minute after Martinez was fouled in the box. East Union’s earlier PK attempt was awarded after Angel Guzman drew a foul on a breakaway.
“That was the bottom line,” Sierra coach Joe Pires said. “We just have to finish. I don’t expect us to finish every single opportunity, but the good ones, you have to finish at least 50% of them. We had four great ones — two at the beginning of the first half, and two at the beginning of the second half. We played well enough to win the game, but they got the goals and we did not.”
Sierra has a chance to bounce back Thursday at winless Central Catholic, while East Union is expecting another tough matchup tonight at Kimball.
“We’re in a position now where we have to win every game,” Pires said. “We’re behind the 8-ball, but we get to play them and Kimball again. We want to give it a good run and see if we can fight for the title.”
