San Mateo gets payback at Westmoor

“I think today we were a little more aggressive, at least in the final third,” San Mateo head coach George Pineda said. “In the first game, we were shut out; my forwards weren’t able to penetrate and make the appropriate decisions to go to score. But in today’s game we were able to break through.”

An impressive showing by forward Djelani Phillips-Diop was at the forefront of the breakthrough. The senior scored two goals on the day, with the equalizer coming on the final play of the first half with a header on an assist from senior Sanath Vaka. Then just two minutes into the second half, Phillips-Diop gave San Mateo the lead on another header, this time with an assist from senior midfielder Luis Mora.

“I think we played with a sense of purpose,” Phillips-Diop said. “We knew that we were capable and we knew what we needed to do, and we achieved it today.”

It was Phillips-Diop’s first score that set the tone for the Bearcats.

Westmoor (7-5-1, 8-5-1) opened the day with a gimme, with sophomore Abdulrahman Algaithi earning a foul in the penalty area on the Rams’ first attack of the day. Bruno Santana followed with the penalty kick to give the Rams a 1-0 lead.

As San Mateo consistently turned up the pressure, though, Phillips-Diop finally broke through just seconds prior to the halftime whistle. As the Bearcats set up for a long free kick, the senior charged into the penalty box with Vaka sending in a lofty pass. As Phillips-Diop fought for position behind his defender, the ball took a fortuitous bounce and spun right into the vicinity of Phillips-Diop, who headed it in.

“As soon as we got the free kick [Vaka] called my named and I knew it was coming my way,” Phillips-Diop said. “So, I just stood in front of my defender and I was able to hold him off and flick it over the keeper.”

The timing of the goal sent San Mateo into halftime riding a wave of momentum.

“We definitely knew we were on the verge of victory right there,” Phillips-Diop said. “Our coach, he gave us a good halftime speech. He told us what we needed to correct. And in the second half we corrected it and we executed.”

It was just this kind of momentum Westmoor head coach Omar Rashid was leery of. In the Jan. 13 meeting between the two teams, the Rams shut out the Bearcats. Holding San Mateo in check the second time around was a tall order, Rashid said.

“[Pineda] is a great coach,” Rashid said. “I don’t like to play him a second time because he usually makes really great adjustments. And he made the adjustments today. They pressured us, they wouldn’t let us turn it around. And I knew if this continues, they were going to break through and get one on us. And that’s what was so hard for us to absorb, that first goal they got in the last second, literally.”

In the second half, San Mateo readjusted its attack through the midfield. The strategy paid off immediately as Mora proved essential to the attack.

It was a useful approach as Westmoor was playing without two midfielders essential to the Jan. 13 victory. Senior Roberto Abarca, who had two assists in that victory, was out of action Wednesday, as was usual starting midfielder Gustavo Quintanilha.

So, when Mora blitzed into the final third on a through ball, the only thing that impeded his progress was the sharp angle he took off the right post. Instead of forcing a shot, he sent a cross over to Phillips-Diop, who scored a header from in close to give the Bearcats a 2-1 lead.

“I had to keep going, I had to keep fighting,” Mora said. “The play was on me and I knew that. I kept hustling but it was kind of difficult, so I passed it across. I saw Djelani, I passed it through the air and Djelani just finished the score.”

Mora added his second assist in the 46th minute on a perfectly timed cross to junior Joseph Lev, who took it inside the left post just outside the six-yard and booted it home for a 3-1 lead.

Westmoor didn’t go away though, and finally broke through in the 76th minute. Junior midfielder Melvin Oliva nearly scored a minute earlier on a majestic free kick from 50 yards out. The arcing shot was high on goal and, while San Mateo’s goalkeeper timed a leap to it, his deflection caught the crossbar and careened over for a Westmoor corner kick.

“When I took the shot I was aiming at shooting at the goal because the sun was right in the goalie’s face,” Oliva said. “So, it was a high-percent chance the goalie was not going to get it. But, unfortunately, he was a good goalie and he saved it.”

Junior forward Mohammad Mahdee redeemed the Rams by scoring off the corner to cut San Mateo’s lead to 3-2, but it was as close as Westmoor would get.

With the win, San Mateo (31 points) maintains a slight margin of second-place Capuchino (29 points), though the two Ocean Division frontrunners don’t have any head-to-head matches remaining.

“So, right now, every game between now and the end of the season is going to be crucial to win the division and to make CCS (playoffs),” Pineda said.