Parkdale High School’s boys varsity soccer team won the Class 4A South Region 2 title on Oct. 28 to advance to the state quarterfinals.
“These guys came with heart,” head coach William Sama said after his team won the final regional championship game against DuVal High School, 4-3. “It could’ve gone either way.”
It was looking like a scoreless tie as both teams played strong defense the entire first half.
Parkdale, undefeated so far this season, broke the tie with just two minutes left in the first half when junior center back Mauricio Lozano found the back of the net to give Parkdale a 1-0 lead.
The Panthers didn’t stop there. Forward Anderson Leon, a sophomore, scored a buzzer-beater goal in the final seconds of the first half to take a 2-0 lead into the break.
The team picked up right where it left off early in the second half with a goal two minutes in. Defensive midfielder Eric Rodriguez, a senior, got behind the defense and scored the third Parkdale goal in just five minutes.
The DuVal Tigers got on the board halfway through the second half to cut the Parkdale lead to 3-1.
A couple of minutes later, DuVal put pressure on the Parkdale defense and scored again, cutting the deficit to one goal with 14 minutes left to play.
Starting from their own end, the Tigers advanced the ball to Parkdale’s side of the field. After a shot by DuVal and a save by Parkdale, DuVal tapped in the rebound to tie the game at 3-3 with just two minutes left to play.
The teams were tied 3-3 at the end of regulation, sending the game into overtime.
“Coach told us to keep pushing,” junior midfielder Brian Gonzalez Lopez said. “We have the character to keep going, and that’s part of our family and who we are.”
Both teams had scoring chances in the first half of overtime, but strong defense kept the score tied as they headed into the second half.
Just four minutes into the second 10-minute half of overtime, the Panthers put pressure on the Tiger defense, and sophomore forward Almamy Camara scored the game-winning goal as the entire Parkdale sideline sprinted toward him.
The win comes after the Panthers claimed an 8-0 victory in the regional semifinal against Charles Herbert Flowers High School.
“I couldn’t tell the emotions,” Camara said. “I trusted myself and I believed in myself. It felt incredible, absolutely incredible.”
“It means a lot,” Lopez said about the win. “We’ve been working and grinding a lot every day so this win means a lot.”
Parkdale will host High Point High School at 3 p.m. on Oct. 31 in the state quarterfinals.
“Three regional finals back-to-back-to-back,” Sama said. “Third time the charm.”