San Mateo boys' soccer team hold off Hillsdale

San Mateo pretty well controlled the game for most of the first 70 minutes, but were nearly undone in the final 10 as the Hillsdale offense finally came to life and scored twice to make the Bearcats sweat.

San Mateo head coach George Pineda blamed himself for the late collapse as he subbed out a number of his starters to get some rest and let his bench players get some run.

But after Hillsdale’s second goal, he brought many of his starters back on.

“That’s why I put everyone back in, to stabilize things,” Pineda said. “A win is a win. We were obviously the better team.”

It was Morales’ brilliance on the ball, however, that proved to be enough for the Bearcats. Already up 1-0, Morales scored a pair of highlight-reel goals to push San Mateo’s lead to 3-0 early in the second half.

A senior, Morales scored both his goals off one-timers, the first being a thing of beauty in what would be a candidate for goal of the year. Hillsdale’s inability to clear the ball out following a Bearcats’ corner kick resulted a world-class side volley off an assist from Sameer Murthy, who sent a cross to the top of the box where an unmarked Morales was stationed.

Morales said he was setting up for a bicycle kick — one in which the player’s back is to the goal and he flips on his back while kicking the ball on net.

Instead, he settled on the side volley, blasting a shot into the roof of the net for a 2-0 San Mateo lead in the 37th minute.

“They were trying to get in my head,” Morales said of the pre-game trash talk. “[That first goal] felt great.”

Morales said he tries bicycle kicks in practice and maybe will connect on one. He said he never practices the side volley shots, however. Even his coach admits while Morales will occasionally hit some acrobatic shots in practice, they are not the norm.

“Everything has to be in its place (to be a success on shots like that),” Pineda said.

The opening 20 minutes of the game were spent mostly in the midfield but, over the final part of the opening half, the Bearcats were applying heavy pressure.

They finally opened the scoring in the 27th minute when Luis Rodriguez received a pass in the middle of the box and calmly buried his shot for a 1-0 San Mateo lead.

Morales’ brilliant strike gave San Mateo a 2-0 lead just before halftime and 15 minutes into the second half, Morales struck for his sixth goal of the season.

The Bearcats earned a free throw deep in the Hillsdale end. The throw went to Rodriguez, who found an unmarked Morales in front of the goal. Morales simply stuck his foot out and one-timed the cross into the back of the net to give the Bearcats a seemingly comfortable lead.

“We created their opportunities for them,” said Hillsdale head coach Jaime Gomez. “San Mateo is a good team. … You give them an opportunity and they’re going to punish you.”

Hillsdale, to its credit, didn’t just fold up shop and go home. The Knights kept pressing and it forced San Mateo into some bad play which let Hillsdale back into the game.

“The last 10 minutes, we got a little sloppy,” Morales said. “We can’t be making mistakes like that.”

A David Voskoboynik shot that banged off the crossbar appeared to inspire the Knights, who started buzzing around the San Mateo penalty box.

It was sheer hustle that resulted in the Knights’ first goal as defender Zach Leighton stepped up into the attack and bulled his way into the box, winning a couple challenges before beating the San Mateo goalkeeper to get Hillsdale on the board in the 74th minute.

The Knights kept pushing and, in the 80th minute, earned a free kick 33 yards from goal. Senior midfielder Marcos Cardenas stepped up to take the kick and knocked his shot into the roof of the net to give the Knights one gasp — but they could not find the equalizer in stoppage time.

“We were flat today. The energy level wasn’t there,” Gomez said. “I was never concerned with us scoring. I was concerned with finishing with good energy.”