Palos Verdes Beats Mira Costa to Clinch Bay League Boys Soccer Title

It didn’t come easy, but Palos Verdes’ boys soccer team gutted out a 1-0 victory Thursday night at Mira Costa to earn its first Bay League championship in four years.            

Freshman Thomas Hutchings scored a dazzling goal early in the first half, then the Sea Kings’ defense and goalkeeper Arya Ghadimi came through in the second half to win a regular-season finale that was for all the marbles in the Bay League.

“I’m getting too old for this,” Coach Bruce Myhre said, only half kidding after one of the most intense games of the season for both teams.            

“This has not been an easy place for us to play the last few years. It was a great game to win, considering how hard Costa played and how much was at stake.”

The victory gave Palos Verdes a 19-3-4 overall record and a 7-1-2 record in the Bay League, good for 23 points in a system that rewards teams with three points for a win and one point for a tie. Mira Costa could have tied PV and possibly won the league title if it had won the game by virtue of a tiebreaker edge, but the loss dropped it into third place with a 13-4-4 overall record and a 5-3-2 mark in league. 

West Torrance defeated Peninsula to move into second place at 13-6-5, 7-3, which is worth 21 points, four more than Mira Costa.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable to win league after three years of being an also-ran,” said solid senior defender Zach Irons. “We had our backs to the wall in that second half, as hard as Mira Costa was trying to score, but we hung on.

"This was great to win a title and revenge for the last game (won by Mira Costa on a disputed goal at PV).”

The last time the Sea Kings won the Bay League (2007), they followed by winning a CIF championship. Myhre believes his team has the talent to pull off the double again, but he pointed to the trouble the determined Mustangs gave the Sea Kings as proof that nothing can be taken for granted in soccer.

“Anything can happen in soccer, so you can’t take anything for granted in the playoffs,” Myhre said. “We’re a good team, but Mira Costa has a good team, too. They really came after us in that second half.”

Indeed, had it not been for a couple of great saves and a lot of all-around solid play by goalkeeper Ghadimi, the outcome might have been different.

“Arya was great tonight,” Myhre said. “He was struggling to come back from a (minor) injury, but tonight he was all the way back. He played an outstanding game.”

Ghadimi, who has 15 shutouts, was modest after his clutch performance.

“This was the biggest game of my life,” the senior said, “but it was the defense that got the shutout, not me. It was really a tough game, but all the guys in the back came through.

“I’d say the closest they came to scoring was a header in the first half, where I had to dive to get the ball. Other than that, I thought we were in control.”

Mira Costa coach Gary Smith was all smiles after the game. Despite the defeat, he was pleased with his team's effort.

“They performed great,” he said. “I asked them for 100 percent of their energy and they gave it. After that, all you can do is let the chips fall where they may. It’s just too bad the chips didn’t fall for us tonight.”

As things turned out, the play of the game came early. Hutchings took a deflected ball at close to midfield with a fairly open field ahead of him. Using his great speed, he got down to the goal, forcing goalie Gavin Jernigan to leave his post. Hutchings made a nice kick to his left to get past Jernigan, then made a tough-angle shot from the left side into the right side of Mira Costa’s goal.

“It was exciting getting ready for this game,” Hutchings said. “Everybody was ready. When I got that goal, the adrenaline was really flowing.”

The goal “was huge,” Myhre said.

“I was hoping we could get a second one, but we never got many chances after that.”

That had more to do with Mira Costa’s aggressive play and determination than it did PV sitting on a 1-0 lead, Myhre said.

“They were just very determined,” he said. “They made it hard on us.”

Irons, Jimmy Jordan, Kyle Wilkinson and Scott MacNaughton all played a big role in preserving the lead. At midfield, Matt Mardesich took control of a number of balls before the Mustangs could mount a serious threat. And when the Mustangs did break through the defense, Ghadimi made the strong saves that were necessary.