Manteca’s Sierra tops Livingston to reach D-IV section soccer final

Sierra High School scored with less than 30 seconds remaining in the first overtime and held off a Livingston flurry in the waning moments of the second OT for a 2-1 victory in the semifinals of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV boys soccer playoffs Tuesday.

The win avenged a 2-1 loss to Livingston last year in the quarterfinal round and propels eighth-seeded Sierra (17-8-3) into Saturday’s final against No. 2 Pacheco (19-2-4), a 2-0 winner over Liberty Ranch. The championship will be played at Elk Grove High School at 2 p.m.

Sierra’s Eddie Aguilar scored the eventual winner off an inbound pass. Livingston defenders allowed the ball to get past them, and Aguilar easily scored his second goal of the contest moments before the whistle blew to end the first 10-minute overtime period.

“(Athen Gonsalves) threw it in perfectly,” Aguilar said. “He got it perfectly in between the defense for (Kevin Mendiola), and I saw that they started shifting over so I backed up more and it got me a whole bunch of space and he laid it off perfectly.

“I saw the keeper coming out and I saw one player coming in, so I did my best to wrap my foot around the ball, and even though the keeper got a hand to it, I was lucky enough to get it in the back of the net.”

Livingston was not so lucky to find the back of the net.

“We always create opportunities,” said Livingston coach Art Pulido, whose team reached the section semifinals for a third consecutive year and finished 23-4-2. “But our downfall this year has been putting the ball in the back of the net, but it’s not for a lack of trying.

“It’s a cruel game.”

Though the Wolves drew even on Ricardo Garcia’s nifty goal in the 54th minute – working a give-and-go with Tony Aguilar – they failed to convert on numerous opportunities, including a last-ditch effort in the final 15 seconds that required Sierra goalie Saul Aguiniga to make a diving stop of Enrique Medina’s header.

“You know what I was thinking, seriously? Last year,” Sierra coach Joe Pires said of Livingston’s last-gasp effort. “Last year, we were in the position they were. And we had our keeper come up, just like they did, and our keeper got a head and the ball hit the post. So, I was thinking about that. It didn’t go in for us last year; it didn’t go in for them this year. He got the ball, so I was happy with the outcome.”

This story was originally published March 1, 2017 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Manteca’s Sierra tops Livingston to reach D-IV section soccer final."