The Wilson defense was the best offense on Wednesday afternoon in Belmont Shore against El Modena, and the Bruins will now move on to the quarterfinals of the CIF playoffs after a 13-9 victory over the Vanguards. Solid defense and an effective counter attack helped the Bruins score 7 goals in the first quarter, running the halftime score to 10-2.
“We really came out ready to play today,” said Wilson coach Tony Martinho. “We put it to ‘em from the first whistle… Our transition game made the difference.”
Bruin senior defenders Matt Schechter and Chase McColl held the Vanguards down almost the entire first half, keeping the pressure off of goalie Vince Ward, who only touched the ball a handful of times.
Daniel Tyner (match-high five goals) was the go-to guy on offense, but every time he had an open shot, it came from a great outlet pass. There were times during the match where it looked like the Bruins were pulling the schoolyard basketball cherry pick play. But they weren’t. That’s how good their defense is. That’s how quickly they can make a team pay for not getting back.
The Bruins made the Vanguards pay early, jumping out to a 4-0 lead. Less then six minutes later, they extended that to a 10-1 lead. With mostly Bruin reserves in the pool, ELMo showed heart and charged back, scoring five unanswered goals in the 4th quarter behind strong efforts from Thomas Patterson and Nathan Ortega.
Wilson advances to the quarterfinals on Saturday at the Long Beach State Campus Pool at 3pm, taking on the winner of the Tesoro/Riverside-Poly contest.
