Mills holds off the defending Ocean champs

homore Justin Lauer and senior Jake Yee to get past EC for a 2-1 victory. But the match contained far more of a dramatic finish that necessary, had Mills simply finished one of its many opportunities during a dominant first-half offen

sive.

“That was awful,” Lauer said. “We really should have put some of those chances away.”

It was a go-ahead score by Lauer in the 37th minute that gave Mills the lead. But the 10 shots on goal that preceded it had defending PAL Ocean Division champion El Camino in peril through the opening 40 minutes.

Lauer’s score was a strong drive off the left side. The sophomore curled into the penalty box as he charged past two defenders, then threaded the needle between EC goalkeeper Uriel Prieto and the right post with a high-trajectory bullet to give Mills a 1-0 advantage.

The long-awaited goal was a simple matter of fundamentals, according to Mills head coach Craig Dillie, who admonished his team at the half for trying too much for the glamorous attempt rather than play the percentages.

“We’ve been good in transition and playing the foot,” Dillie said. “When we’ve done that we’ve been effective.”

With frequent attacks through the opening 30 minutes, Mills indeed squandered a few chances. But, El Camino (0-5, 2-8) enjoyed its fair share of defensive gems as well.

It has been a year of few gems for El Camino, as the Colts graduated 17 players from last year’s historic team. The 2016-17 squad was the first in El Camino history to advance to the Central Coast Section boys’ soccer championship round — the Colts lost there to Division II champ Serra — but only one starting player remains from last year’s roster.

“It’s a whole different team from the last four years,” El Camino head coach Ken Anderson said.

Mills took advantage of that inexperience, playing a flurry of breakaways before finally getting on the scoreboard.

“I think it was miscommunication,” said Joel Vilaipando, an El Camino defender in his second varsity season. With the Colts’ extraordinary depth last season though, Vilaipando did not see the field once in 2016-17. “So I think we had to figure it out by the second half.”

In the eighth minute, Mills had its first good chance on a pass senior midfielder Favian Gonzalez placed behind the El Camino defense. Junior midfielder Richard Schafhalter took the fade in stride and pounded an attempt just outside the right post.

Mills took the momentum and turned it into two close-range shots, both defended well by with strong 1-on-1 matchups in the back rank. Gonzalez had the first look with a charge off the right post, firing off the hands of EC goalkeeper Gunnar Rullhausen. With the keeper’s defense pulling him to the right side, the deflection looked to take a perilous carom to sophomore Jose Sanchez stationed in the heart of the penalty box. Sanchez quickly booted a shot on goal, but EC junior Emmanuel Olgin-Meza hustled over to knock the attempt out of bound with a slide kick.

Then the Vikings picked up the tempo with a battery of attempts from Gonzalez.

In the 21st minute, Mills took another shot on a breakaway to the foot of Gonzalez. With a slight step on his defender, Gonzalez hurried a shot as he sprinted through the middle and past the penalty hash. His arcing attempt, however, glanced off the top of the crossbar and over. In the 25th minute, Gonzalez advanced off the left post for a cross shot but missed wide. Then in the 26th minute, Gonzalez took his time inside the 18-yard line, using a little daylight to steady his approach, but slammed a shot right into the hands of Rullhausen.

In the 33rd minute, though, Mills’ fortunes changed. Gonzalez found his way into the box for another attack and drew a foul. Not only was Mills awarded a penalty kick, Rullhausen was forced to depart with a yellow card, causing El Camino to turn to Prieto. The senior turned in a stellar effort on the ensuing PK by Mills junior Yuma Miyake, leaving his feet to slap away the low attempt with an all-out dive.

Four minutes later, though, Mills scored the go-ahead against El Camino’s reserve goalkeeper.

Ten minutes into the second half, Mills got a critical insurance goal off a corner kick. Miyake sent in the corner and found the head of Yee, who pounded it in from 10 yards out to give the Vikings a 2-0 lead in the 50th minute.

The score loomed large as El Camino finished the match with a lot of offensive pressure, and even found the back of the net when senior team captain Silvano Hernandez scored his fourth goal of the year on an assist from Alexis Diaz in the 66th minute.

Inspired defense by Vilaipando kept the one-goal differential in check. The senior chased down two attacks by Gonzalez late in the game.

“We were keeping our heads up,” Vilaipando said. “It was just 1-0, 2-0; it doesn’t matter. We just have to dig in deeper and play our best.”

Lauer and Yee are in a fun intra-squad competition for Mills’ team lead in goal scoring. The two entered the day tied for the team lead, and with a goal apiece remain that way. Each has seven goals on the year.