Serra soccer hits two-game skid in WCAL play

Serra (1-2 WCAL, 7-2 overall) took a 2-1 lead midway through the first half, but Valley Christian junior Ben Asiaba scored a hat trick, including an impressive equalizer just before halftime and earning the game-winner on a rebound off his penalty kick in the 45th minute.

“I think it’s really early for our guys,” Serra head coach Mike Keller said of the loss. “I think there’s a lot of points available. So, I don’t think it’s going to change too much. Hopefully, I think we’ll probably learn from it and use it as a springboard more than anything.”

Keller has an emotional group on his hands, and that emotion was on full display as Wednesday’s game wore on. While Valley Christian was penalized with just one yellow card on the afternoon, Serra was levied with three yellow cards and one red — with senior forward Drew Alexander drawing the ejection after the final whistle.

Alexander is a dynamic force for the Padres and was playing fast and furious off the left wing through the first half. Valley Christian got on the board first with a penetration goal by Asiaba in the 17th minute. But the Padres fired right back off the ensuing kickoff by sending a long pass up the left side to Alexander, who pushed the pace around the back line and took a sharp angle toward the keeper to score a short-range shot inside the left post.

“He’s a high-effort guy, as you can see,” Keller said. “And most of our guys are. But he makes a big difference with his speed and with his effort, especially in our transition from defense to attack. He gives us a lot of options going forward. And he gave a great effort today.”

Serra kept up the pressure and, in the 24th minute earned a free kick just off the sideline. Alexander sent in a terrific ball toward the back post bending just over the outstretched hand of the Valley Christian goalkeeper and right to the foot of Dylan Joudieh, who redirected it in and followed it across the goal line as the Padres celebrated the 2-1 lead.

“I’ve seen that quite a few times from the guys, and it’s quite a good trait from the guys,” Keller said of Serra’s ability to answer right back. “So, hopefully we can continue that.”

But in the 38th minute, Asiaba danced his way onto many a highlight reel with a fantastic run up the left side toward the north goal.

Valley Christian (1-1 WCAL) flipped the field in a hurry, sending the ball out of the back corner for Andrew Hart, who took it near midfield and knocked it up to Asiaba. With about 40 yards to close between him and the goal, Asiaba put on a clinic, dribbling in and across the box, ducking several defenders before Serra finally got a foot on it to add a degree of difficulty. But Asiaba responded by flicking the ball up and off his chest, dropping it back down to his feet, and changing direction back across the front of the cage, angling around the Serra keeper and knocking it in to tie the game 2-2.

“He’s not going to get away with that very often,” Valley Christian head coach Gary St. Clair said. “We’re trying to teach them to do things in certain situations but, my goodness, we’ll take it.”

Then the Valley Christian defense hunkered down in the second half and changed the complexion of the game.

Whereas Serra was flipping the field with ease throughout the first half, Valley Christian shored up its middle with Asiaba dropping back off the forward line, while Hart and Colby Anger came up from the back rank to help out consistently.

“The key for us is we have to be able to shut down other teams,” St. Clair said. “And we were not executing anything in the first half, and I was very disappointed with their performance. So, what we did was decided to get the ball off of the back line … get the ball up the field quicker. In other words, at some point this became a geographical game; instead of playing on our half, we play on their half.”

The stifled opportunities managed to frustrate the Padres, who began to panic as the minutes started winding down, Joudieh said.

“I think our panic overall,” Joudieh said. “Because every time we were just trying to boot the ball, boot the ball, boot the ball up the field — we’ll get a chance — and I think ultimately that ended up hurting us.”

The go-ahead goal was an unfortunate turn for Serra, as the initial save by senior goalkeeper Dylan Fleider was an impressive one. Asiaba pounded the PK low left, but Fleider read it well, left his feet, and got both hands on it. The rebound, however, went right to the foot of Asiaba, who walked it into the vacated net for the decisive score.

“It was an unlucky bounce and unfortunately it went Valley Christian’s way,” Joudieh said.

At the final whistle, while Serra’s players were already talking amongst themselves about the scheduled Feb. 5 rematch with Valley Christian, the referees were peeling off a red card for Alexander as frustrations boiled over.

“We wanted to come out strong,” Joudieh said. “Every single WCAL game is going to be tough, regardless of the opponent. It could be the worst team versus the best team, it’s going to be a great atmosphere. As we saw, it was. It was unfortunate we couldn’t come out with the result.”