Beaumont soccer boys score in overtime to advance to quarterfinals

Beaumont was pushed to the brink of elimination once again during Wednesday’s second round of the CIF-Southern Section Div. 6 boys soccer playoffs.

And for the second straight game the Cougars came through in the clutch, this time scoring a 3-2 overtime win over host Sherman Oaks Buckley.

Beaumont (14-6-4) will continue the playoffs on Friday. The opponent and site will be decided by coin flip early Thursday.

“I’m very impressed,” said Beaumont coach Barry Steele, whose team opened the playoffs last week with a sudden death shootout victory over Thermal Desert Mirage. “I expected us to get here but it is still real nice to see it happen.”

The game entered the first period of overtime tied at 2 but that didn’t last long. The Cougars went on the attack and, after being rewarded the ball on a foul, were put in a throw-in situation.

Jake Jones made a deep toss toward the box. The ball bounced around but was hauled in by Ty Hopp, who tapped it in for the game winner.

“We sent everyone forward and pinned them in,” Steele said. “Then he just scored.”

Then a wild celebration took place at midfield.

“We dog piled on him right there on the field,” Steele said. “It was pretty amazing.”

Steele credited his team’s physical conditioning as the biggest factor in the game.

“We pressed them and just kept at them,” Steele said. “I thought we were the better conditioned team. They got tired and they started to cramp up.”

Buckley (17-4) was no pushover. The Griffins, ranked No. 6 in the final regular season poll, had won 17 straight games and opened the playoffs with an 8-0 win over Southland Christian.

“We made adjustments,” Steele said, who immediately noticed the Griffins had some strong individual talent. “It’s a team effort. Having two or three good players is not going to get it done. We had the better team. We played well, defended well and scored three goals.”

Beaumont took a 1-0 lead five minutes into the second half on a goal by Miguel Carrillo. But 30 seconds later the Griffins tied the game at 1 and then took a 2-1 lead 10 minutes after that.

That was when Beaumont's conditioning became a factor.

“We looked like were just more fit,” Steele said. “We pressed them for the next 25 minutes or so.”

With four minutes left in regulation the Cougars scored the game tying goal on a shot by Jake Partida that send the game into OT tied at 2.