SAN DIEGO - The trophy was not even a foot tall, but for the Servite boys soccer team it was the biggest thing that they have won in quite some time.
"This is huge.This was one of our goals for the season and to accomplish that ... it is amazing," Servite coach Mike Lussier said. "The guys really had to come together and fight through a lot to get it. And they did it."
With their 1-0 victory against Wastonsville at Cathedral Catholic on Thursday, Servite won the prestigious So Cal High School Classic, a tournament which featured two of the top 10 teams in the nation according to ESPN - No. 2 Bellarmine Prep and No. 10 Corona del Sol of Tempe, Ariz. The Friars (11-2-2) beat Bellarmine,3-1,to advance into championship match.
Alex Carr delivered the game-winner for the Friars on Thursday, redirecting a header from Charlie Miller with one minute to go. Brenda Luna set up the goal with a corner kick. He had two goals and seven assists for the Friars during the tournament.
"In the big games against great competition, the game will be decided 70 percent of the time on a set piece, not on the field," Lussier said. "And there is the example. On the field it is a stalemate, and then the moment comes on a set piece that someone has to do something good ... a little bit of luck. Goal."
Watsonville had one of the top forwards in the tournament in Christian Diaz, and Lussier said the plan was to track the runs that Diaz made, take away the passing lane to him and get in the space behind him once Diaz got rid of the ball.
In his three games during the tournament, Diaz scored six goals. On Thursday, the Friars prevented him from taking one good shot.
"And we did that. That disrupted them. They could maintain possession until the final 30 and then after that they had a hard time," Lussier said. "The guys just did a fabulous job of being in the right place at the right time."
Servite didn't have many chances to score on Thursday, either. Brendan Luna and Garrett Bradbury tried to hook in the 28th minute. But Watsonville goalkeeper David Munoz was there to take the ball off of Bradbury's foot before he could get off a shot. And then four minutes before halftime, Luna tried again, but Munoz was able to get a hand on the ball as he made a diving save.
"We have a good attacking team, and we have a good defense behind them. Our focus is to defend hard and well behind them every game," Lussier said. "We are going to make it very hard for people to score on us, and we know that eventually we will be able to get one, two ...or three. "
