Trojans top Bulldogs, 1-0, to keep playoff hopes alive

In the final game of the regular season, both Folsom High's and Oak Ridge's varsity boys' soccer teams played good games and both teams had motivation to do so. For the Bulldogs, it was senior night and 17 of the 23 players on their roster are seniors. After a long season in which the team only won three games, it would have been a great sendoff for the seniors to go out with a win. For the Trojans, they were hoping a win would get them a playoff spot. Folsom played a stronger first half and had multiple chances to score, but could not. Oak Ridge picked up its play in the second half and ended up scoring the game's only goal to win 1-0 to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Bulldogs, 3-11-3 on the season, played a really good game, but especially in the first half when they created some scoring chances. Folsom's best chance came with in the 36th minute when Breckon Karford had the ball on the right wing running toward the net when he put a perfect cross on the foot of Max Matalucci, who deflected it just wide of the goal. Moments later Matalucci had another chance on a header following a beautiful pass from Kyle Gosal, but it was saved by Oak Ridge keeper Connor Depew. Austin Fagan, Cole Kurlinski and Jackson Kusaba also played well offensively for the Bulldogs, while Chase Quiceno was solid all night long defensively. Oak Ridge (5-8-4) came out a different team in the second half and about 10 minutes in started to dominate. Oak Ridge's Drew Hatch had a free kick eight minutes into the second half that sailed just over the net. Three minutes later, Oak Ridge's Sebastian Cazares dribbled through the Folsom defense and put a shot on goal that was saved by Folsom keeper Dillon Baker. A third chance 30 seconds later when Cassiano Konig passed a ball to Cazares, who beat the keeper but couldn't put the ball by Gosal, who stopped the goal. Finally, moments later, Dominic Guzman took a nice pass from Robert Dikho, who had chased a ball down that was going out of bounds, pushed it toward the goal and then passed it to Guzman in front of the net for the goal. Folsom had some chances in the second half too when Ethan Pham made a cross right across the goalmouth at about the midpoint of the half but no one was there. The ensuing corner kick provided a grand opportunity for JJ Vargas to score, but Depew made the save. "I thought we moved the ball very well and played a good, balanced game," Folsom coach Kevin Fagan said. "They had a nice cross and goal that it would have been good to have cleared. We had a couple misses too, but we moved the ball effectively like we wanted to. We had opportunities in the box like we've been working on, but we just failed to convert. At the end of the day, it was a much better performance than the first time we played them." Oak Ridge coach Tony Guzman was glad to get the win. "It wasn't pretty but we won," Guzman said. "We played a way better second half. We just played with low intensity in the first half. These guys needed a win. Their morale has been down a bit. It's a good group of boys, but our record doesn't show it. Now we need a little bit of help from the soccer gods to get us in the playoffs." Fagan praised his seniors for their effort this season. "I give the seniors all kinds of credit because there were a good handful of them who didn't have a lot of meaningful minutes all season and yet they stepped up and they played and were willing to get in there. They were grateful to be a part of the team and we were grateful to have them. They're attitudes and efforts were excellent. They really did a good job."