San Mateo back in CCS

Going into the regular-season finale against visiting Woodside, the math was real simple for the Bearcats: win the game, clinch the Ocean Division title and go to CCS for the first time since 2012.

So even as the Wildcats were celebrating Grant Boyd’s last-second goal, the Bearcats started their own celebration as the final whistle blew and they posted a 2-1 decision over Woodside.

“After we beat Capuchino (1-0 Jan. 29) to go to the top of the table, our coach told us even if you’re on top of the league, you still have to keep performing,” said San Mateo striker Djelani Phillips-Diop, whose goal in the 38th minute proved to be the difference in the game.

San Mateo (14-1-1 PAL Ocean, 43 points, 15-1-2 overall) came into the game having won eight straight division games and held a two-point lead over Capuchino, which had forced the matter to the final game of the regular season.

“Every year, it seems it comes down to two teams,” Pineda said. “[The team] was aware they needed to win.”

The Bearcats took advantage of that knowledge by getting on the scoreboard less than five minutes into the game. They had been pressing Woodside from the opening whistle and in the fourth minute the Wildcats had a goal kick. They failed to get the ball out of their end, however, and after some time bouncing around in the penalty box, the ball eventually ended up on the foot of Luis Mora on the right side of the penalty, who had 21 goals on the season coming into the game.

He notched his 22nd in that fourth minute as he fired a shot just inside the far left post to put San Mateo up 1-0.

“It was super important (to get that early goal),” Phillips-Diop said. “[It put] them on their back foot.”

The Wildcats, however, appeared to settle in after that and started to take control of the game in the midfield, stringing passes together.

But the San Mateo defense was content to let the Wildcats build in the middle of the field before standing tall outside the Bearcats’ penalty box. Woodside managed five shots in the opening half, but all were from distance and none were especially dangerous.

“[Woodside] always plays well,” Pineda said. “They move the ball well in the midfield.”

What was dangerous, however, was Mora and Phillips-Diop, who have been arguably the best 1-2 punch all of the PAL this season. When they have the ball in a dangerous spot, they make things happen for the Bearcats.

So while the San Mateo spent a lot of time chasing defensively, the Bearcats remained dangerous offensively, as they got seven shots off in the opening 40 minutes.

And right before halftime, the Bearcats showed just how quickly they can change the game. They received a throw-in deep in the Woodside end, which the Wildcats failed to clear. San Mateo Auner Barrios Vasquez, who started the play with the throw-in, stayed with the play and eventually won the ball back. After beating one defender, he sent a cross to the front of the goal, where Phillips-Diop flashed and snapped a header into the top of the net to double the Bearcats lead to 2-0.

“I saw the ball hanging up there,” Phillips-Diop said. “I said, ‘I’m getting that ball.’”

It proved to be a necessary goal because the Wildcats continued to control possession in the second half, leaving San Mateo to resort to counter attacks. The Bearcats nearly caught Woodside on the counter a few times — including a minute into the second half when Mora had a breakaway and chipped the goalkeeper, only to have the defender clear the ball away a couple feet away from the goal line.

Phillips-Diop also just missed connecting on a header off a corner kick in the 51st minute, only to see it clang off the crossbar.

Woodside would go on to out-shoot San Mateo 7-4 in the second half, with Boyd heading in Dominic Morello’s corner cross in stoppage time — with the referee blowing the whistle to end the game as the Wildcats were celebrating their goal.

“[CCS] has been talked about since the beginning of the year,” Pineda said. “The boys wanted it.”

In the PAL Bay Division, Menlo-Atherton’s 1-1 tie at Burlingame wrapped up the division championship for the Bears. Going into the final game, they held a three-point lead over Carlmont, meaning M-A needed only a tie against the Panthers to clinch the title.