BOYS SOCCER: La Canada gets past Marshall

Yusef Akbarut’s header off a corner kick by Ravi Sahai gives La Canada a 3-2 win over Marshall in the second round of the CIF-Southern Section Division V playoffs. The Spartans will play at Mountain View on Thursday.

This was a match that could have gone either way.

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Above: La Canada celebrates in the background while a Marshall player reacts to a 3-2 loss to the Spartans.

CIF-SS PLAYOFFS
BOYS SOCCER
Division I
Second Round

Newbury Park 2, St. Francis 0

Division V
Second Round

La Canada 3, Marshall 2
Oaks Christian 4, Blair 0


La Canada gets real kick from beating Eagles
By Scott Galetti, Staff Writer

LA CANADA – Corner kicks are something La Canada High School’s boys soccer team spends plenty of time practicing.
On Tuesday, all of the hard work in practice paid off.
Yusef Akbarut scored off a corner kick with less than three minutes to play in regulation to give the Spartans a 3-2 victory over visiting Marshall in the second round of the CIF-Southern Section Division V playoffs.
La Canada (14-5-5) advanced to Thursday’s quarterfinals and will play at Mountain View, a 1-0 winner over Azusa.
Marshall (10-3-6) tied the match on a goal by Daniel Amaya with about 14 minutes to play.
The Spartans intensified their attack and earned a corner kick. Ravi Sahai’s attempt was right at Akbarut, who re-directed it into the net to give La Canada the lead.
“We’ve been working on that all year, and we had so many chances that were just wide of the post,” Akbarut said. “Finally, we got one that was perfect and put it in.
“I’m not a big scorer, so this is a big moment for me. So I was really happy for my team to get a big win.”
Added Sahai: “I knew Yusef was going to be there so I put it to his head so he could put it in.”
La Canada coach Jordan Jones discussed corner kicks with his team on Monday and got his players to listen when it counted.
“They wanted to run a play on a corner kick, but I said, `No, we just need to get it in and step up and make a header,’ which we did on the last play,” Jones said. “It was a great ball by Ravi, and Yusef was just in the right place.”
The Spartans, who outshot the Eagles 14-8, took a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute when Garrett Gray put a shot past Marshall goalkeeper Eric Alvarenga and into the net.
Marshall tied it in the 29th minute when Hector Benitez chased down a loose ball and scored.
“It was an uphill battle the whole game, and we couldn’t find a rhythm,” Marshall coach Claine Plummer said. “La Canada did a very good job at closing the spaces.
“Even though they had the edge, we feel like we dominated the second half and were able to come back.”
The Spartans regained the lead on Kyle Campbell’s goal in the final minute of the first half.
“To win that in regulation is huge for us, especially because Marshall has great team,” Jones said. “That was a great CIF playoff game that went back and forth and looked like it was going to overtime.”

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