Skyline holds off Chabot playoff opener

2 — Dribble.

3 — pass to a teammate, if he’s open.

The Trojans did all three to various levels of success Tuesday, but the fact that they accomplished all three meant their attack was strong, which is what they needed as 13th-seeded Skyline opened the Northern California regional tournament with a 3-2 win over visiting No. 20 Chabot-Hayward.

“It was an exciting match,” Saucedo said. “It’s the playoffs. Anything can happen.”

Which perfectly summed up the game. Despite having the overwhelming amount of the possession and using an attack that put consistent pressure on the Gladiators’ defense, the outcome was in doubt until the final whistle.

But a pair of Skyline goals three minutes apart in the second half proved to be the difference.

Tied 1-all at halftime, Skyline (12-4-5) did not let the break take the momentum from it, as the Trojans picked up where they left off after getting off 11 shots and winning five corner kicks in the opening 45 minutes.

Skyline earned a free kick 25 yards from goal, near the left sideline in the first minute of the second half and David Vasquez swung a cross into the box that was headed just wide by Juan Contreras.

But in the 52nd minute, the game changed. First, the Trojans came up empty when an unmarked Leo Matsumara couldn’t direct a one-timer on goal. But a minute later, Beto Fernandez connected on a shot from 30 yards out that put the Trojans up 2-1.

Three minutes later, in the 56th minute, the Trojans worked a nice three-man combo for a 3-1 lead. Fernandez collected a ball in midfield and fed Contreras, who ran at the defense, before threading a perfect through ball into the box to a charging Brayden Barbosa-Briones.

But with a pair of Chabot defenders collapsing on him, Barbosa-Briones poked the ball even further toward goal, where this time Matsumara didn’t miss, as he slotted a shot past the Chabot goalkeeper for a two-goal lead with 34 minutes left to play.

Many soccer experts will say, however, that a two-goal lead is the most dangerous in the sport, because it’s not a formidable deficit. One goal and the team is right back in it, and Chabot (7-10-4) did just that by using an other old soccer axiom: a team is most dangerous five minutes after it’s been scored on.

Which is how the Gladiators got back in the game. While they were pretty well dominated in every aspect of the game, they did prove to be dangerous when given an opportunity. They had only two shots and they converted each of them. Chabot’s second goal came in the 60th minute and for a brief moment, it looked like it would be a replay of the Gladiators’ first goal.

This time, however, the ball clanged hard off the underside of the crossbar — and fell right to the feet of Samuel Enguidanos, who cleaned up the rebound and cut the Chabot deficit in half.

“They’re a tough, resilient team,” Saucedo said of Chabot, adding that the Gladiators had beaten Coast South Conference champion Evergreen Valley earlier in the year.

“We knew they wouldn’t quit.”

And neither did the Trojans, who kept up the attack. They had several chances to add to the lead, but it seemed many of the Trojans were ignoring Saucedo’s first rule, to shoot the ball, and instead relied too much on dribbling and trying to find the open teammate.

Skyline added 10 more shots in the second half, to finish the game with 21, including 12 on goal, but had only the three goals.

“I thought we were too selfless,” Saucedo said.

It was the right result for a game that saw the Trojans completely own the first half as the attacks came early and often. Contreras had a header off a free kick bang off the crossbar in the 19th minute before Skyline broke the seal with a goal in the 26th minute. Matsumara latched onto a ball on the left flank and went on the attack. He appeared to have the space to get off a shot, but he stayed on the dribble, before picking out Angel Ramirez, who was making an unmarked, far right post run. Matsumara sent a perfectly weighted pass across the goal face to the right post, where Ramirez tapped home a one-timer for a 1-0 lead.

It wasn’t in the next five minutes, but Chabot did find the equalizer in the 30th minute on as beautiful a goal you will see. Completely against the run of play, Chabot’s Brandon Espinoza chased down a long ball and had a defender on his shoulder. He dribbled the ball to left side of the box, where he created enough space to swing his left foot across his body and sent a rocket into the upper right corner of the net for the spectacular equalizer.

“[Chabot] hit two, unbelievable shots,” Saucedo said.

Up next for the Trojans is a second-round matchup with with fourth-seeded Cosumnes River (12-5-3) Saturday in Sacramento. Also in action Saturday is fifth-seeded Cañada (11-2-6), which will host No. 12 Feather River (18-4-0). Feather River thumped No. 21 Foothill, 6-0.