From STAFF REPORTS Poly got four goals from sophomore Sean Zheng to make their 87-mile bus ride home a little more pleasant. The Panthers earned a 10-7 victory in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 5 playoffs. Alec Walsh and Diego Jaime both scored two goals apiece in the winning effort. Austin Lee and […]
From STAFF REPORTS
Poly got four goals from sophomore Sean Zheng to make their 87-mile bus ride home a little more pleasant.
The Panthers earned a 10-7 victory in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 5 playoffs.
Alec Walsh and Diego Jaime both scored two goals apiece in the winning effort.
Austin Lee and Matt Arredondo scored one goal each.
For Hemet, they got three goals from William VerDoom and two each by Brandon Davis and Jared Laskowski.
To their credit, Hemet battled back late, but the visitors from Pasadena were able to thwart a takeover by the Bulldogs.
Ian Chadwick and Chandler Washington combined for 13 saves in goal for the Panthers.
Poly will travel Thursday to No. 2 seeded Kennedy at 5 for its second-round contest.
The Fighting Irish are 17-1, including a 5-0 mark in Empire League play, and they enter the playoffs after a first-round bye.
Kennedy is currently on a 12-game win streak.
Poly Game Notes:
• Poly built a 6-1 lead in the 2nd quarter before Hemet came back to narrow the deficit to 6-3 at halftime.
• Hemet closed the deficit to just a single goal in the 4th quarter (Poly 7, Hemet 6) before Poly extended the lead to 10-6 with a pair of goals by Diego Jaime that sandwiched a goal by Alec Walsh.
Poly coach Ryan Katsuyama’s thoughts on win:
• Despite some troubles shooting the ball (16 blocks by Hemet’s goalkeeper), I was pleased with the way the guys kept working for those opportunities. We outshot Hemet 35 to 23, so our offense was generating chances. We just couldn’t put those chances away!
• Defensively, we held our own against a drive oriented offense (Hemet). We did a pretty good job surrounding the ball when they made their entry passes in the middle of the offensive zone. Junior Sean Liu had a great game on the defensive side, 9 steals in the game.
• Our playoff road will be difficult the first two rounds. Today, we had to travel 2 hours to get to Hemet for our first round game and our next game on Thursday will be another fairly long trip to Kennedy. The good news, if we pull the upset on Thursday, is that we’re guaranteed a home game if we advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals.
• Going into Thursday’s game at Kennedy, we’re in a spot where we’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain. We’re going to approach the game the same way we did at Hemet today – play our game, play solid defense and try to capitalize on Kennedy’s miscues.
Box Score:
Poly: 3-3-1-3-(10)
Hemet: 1-2-1-3-(7)
Goalie Saves: Ian Chadwick (P) 5; Chandler Washington (P) 8; Justin Laskowski (H) 16.
Shots on Goal: Poly 35; Hemet 23.
Records: Poly (15-9); Hemet (7-17)
