Los Osos High School girls soccer coach Mychal Armstrong escaped to the mountains after the Grizzlies lost a 2-0 second-half lead in a heart-wrenching 3-2 loss to Aliso Niguel in the CIF Southern California Division I Regional championship on Saturday. When he returned, Los Osos’ lone loss of the season in the last game of the season had dropped espn.com’s top-ranked team in the country only three spots to No. 4.
Previously ranked No. 2, Aliso Niguel naturally ascended to the No. 1 spot in the nation courtesy of three-goal flurry in a 10-minute span in the final of what is the closest California comes to a state soccer tournament. Los Osos (25-1-3) won the CIF-SS Division 3 title but the Grizzlies were painfully close to winning a mythical national championship seeing as they were also ranked No. 1 nationally on MaxPreps.com before slipping to No. 2 after the loss.
“We’re the CIF champions and we’re happy,” Armstrong said. “We only had one loss all season and that’s a great season. Altogether I know it’s tough for the girls right now but that’s the way the season ended.”
Armstrong was not veiled in his opinion of the officiating in the postseason, Saturday being no exception.
“The refereeing was absolutely dreadful,” he said. “I know people don’t want to say it or at least be as vocal as I am about it, but it was absolutely horrendous. That’s nothing new in CIF. It was terrible all through the playoffs, but it really hurt us on Saturday.”
