Crystal upsets El Camino in OT of CCS boys’ soccer

After the post-game handshakes, the Gryphons headed to the eastern goal for a celebratory photo. Crystal can be excused for its enthusiasm — it was the Gryphons’ first-ever CCS win in its inaugural playoff appearance.

“We’ve never made CCS,” said Crystal head coach Roberto Miranda, who took over the program ahead of the 2017-18 season.

“My first season here, we lost every game. The process was this (to get to the postseason).”

Now Crystal (15-2-4) finds itself in its first-ever CCS semifinal game and will be on the road at No. 2 Saratoga (11-6-3) at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Falcons beat No. 7 James Lick, 1-0.

Playing in the West Bay Athletic League, Crystal, despite solid overall seasons, has never finished in the top two of the standings, which earn automatic bids. The WBAL rarely qualifies more than three teams because of the league’s “B” status in CCS.

As such, the sixth-seeded Gryphons felt like an underdog taking on the third-seeded Colts.

But El Camino (14-3-3) also saw itself as the underdog. The Colts have owned the Peninsula Athletic League’s Lake Division, where as as a “C” division gets only the division champion into the playoffs.

As such, both teams came into game looking to prove they belonged and both sides attacked each other with vigor, with neither giving any quarter. It’s how a game ends up with more blocked passes and shots than a high school football game.

“It went exactly how we thought,” said El Camino head coach Ken Anderson Sr. “A tough, hard battle.”

But in the end, it was the Gryphons that came up with the game’s only goal, converting in the 93rd minute. After very few dangerous scoring chances through 80 minutes of regulation and 10 minutes of the first overtime, Crystal finally broke through in the third minute of the second mandatory 10-minute overtime period.

A ball from the midfield was sent diagonally over the top of the Colts’ defensive line where sophomore striker Dante Martin corralled it. He made the turn on goal, with a step on his defender. Martin, the defender and goalkeeper all converged, with Martin sliding a shot just inside the far right post and into the side netting in the 93rd minute to put the Gryphons ahead.

“He’s quality,” Miranda said of Martin. “He’s tall … he’s super fast and he doesn’t give up. He was pushed around and he kept going.”

Both teams came into the game wanting to apply pressure and for the opening 20 minutes, it was El Camino that was on the front foot. The Colts were winning the midfield and stringing passes together. And while they were buzzing about the Crystal penalty box, they couldn’t manage to put much pressure on the Gryphons’ goal.

“We expected that the first 15-20 minutes they’re very vertical,” Miranda said, adding that the Colts, despite starting out in a 4-4-2 formation, was pushing up its outside midfielders and creating a personnel advantage.

To counter that, Miranda said he dropped his defensive midfielder back even further to help support the backline.

Anderson, too, wanted to apply pressure early and push for an early lead, hoping to negate the Gryphons’ attack, but the Colts struggled with Crystal’s height in the back.

“We knew they play the ball direct, so wanted to push up,” Anderson said. “They had a lot of big boys in the back and we couldn’t break through.”

But it was Crystal that had the best scoring opportunity in the first half and it came in the 10th minute. The Gryphons received a free kick 26 yards from goal and Evan Collins’ shot on goal was pushed wide at the far right post by El Camino goalkeeper Caleb Olivares.

Crystal started turning the tables and started gain control of the game over the final 20 minutes of the first half as the Gryphons utilized consistent ball pressure to prevent the Colts from connecting passes.

And yet the first half ended scoreless.

The Gryphons nearly grabbed the lead a minute into the second half when Collins sent a pass across the face of the goal, with Rohan Dalal crashing at the far post. But Olivares slid across the goalmouth and smothered a shot attempt off Dalal’s foot.

The second 40 minute ended like the first with no score, sending the game into overtime. Again, the Gryphons had the better scoring chance in the first 10-minute overtime period, with Olivares, again, making a stop to keep the game scoreless.

The Gryphons had a free kick from 35 yards with a cross put into the El Camino penalty box. Amid the scramble, a shot was put on goal, finding its way through traffic, with Olivares making a reaction kick save to deny Crystal again.

The Gryphons finally ended the stalemate with Martin’s goal. But El Camino didn’t go quietly. The Colts applied their most sustained pressure on the Gryphons defense over the final seven-plus minute since those opening 20 minutes of the game.

And the Colts’ best chance came a minute after the Gryphons’ strike as Ayden Fernandez’s shot attempt was pushed over the crossbar by Crystal goalkeeper Elie Bodner.

On the ensuing El Camino corner kick, Jordan Gomez’s header on goal was, again, pushed over the top by Bodner on a reaction save to preserve the Gryphons’ lead.

When the referee whistled the end of the game, the thrill of victory and agony of defeat was evident.

“Their speed and physicality just wore us down,” Anderson said.

For Miranda and the Gryphons, that first CCS win was a long time coming.

“The boys have worked so hard,” Miranda said.