RIVERSIDE – Riverside Poly coach Alex Figueroa, who said he’s pretty familiar with the Riverside Norte Vista boys soccer team, knows you have to out-hustle the Braves if you want to beat them.
The Bears did just that to score a second-half goal and defeat tournament host Norte Vista, 1-0.
Monday afternoon, Riverside Poly, along with the Norte Vista girls soccer team, concluded the Norte Vista Soccer Tournament by winning championships at Alvord District Stadium.
Figueroa said his Bears (2-0-1) play against Norte Vista nearly a half dozen times throughout the year and the is one thing the coach said you should know about beating the Braves is you’d better bring your “A” game.
“There is a lot of familiarity between the two teams,” Figueroa said. “I know you can’t beat them unless you outwork them.”
Norte Vista made life hard for Poly early on Monday, taking advantage of the Bears’ inability to settle the ball in the midfield in the first half.
Luckily for Figueroa, he had sweeper Luc Giannini, who was active in directing defensive switches and possession, and stopper Marcus Garcia, who shut down Norte Vista senior Giovanny Lopez and played solid in possession.
Once Poly took charge in the middle third, the Bears changed momentum and took control.
“The key, really, was for our midfielders to settle down, get the ball on the ground, hold possession and control space,” Figueroa said.
The two sides played to a scoreless tie at halftime.
Norte Vista had chances on goal in the first half, missing wide in the 15th minute and missing a goal again on a tremendous save from Poly goalkeeper Ed Martinez on a breakaway opportunity by Norte Vista senior Leonardo Garay, who shot right, only to have it deflected out the right side.
In the second half, Poly, which worked the left side of Norte Vista defense in the first half, came out working the ball down the right-hand side and began finding scoring opportunities.
Around the 60th minute, the Bears scored the winner when junior Sebastian Perry pushed down the right side then crossed to senior captain Kyle Avery, who was working toward the near post when he squeezed it past a defender for the only goal of the game.
“We had some good fortune,” Figueroa said. “We had to play to spots and be stubborn to get that goal.”
The Bears nearly repeated the same feat to score a second time minutes later, but shot just wide.
