Late goal pushes Granite Hills past Mission Bay, ending Bucs’ streak – elcajon newson Elcajon News only

After posting a 19-0-1 record and capturing the CIF San Diego Section Division 4 title a year ago, expectations are high for Mission Bay High School’s boys soccer program.

Which makes a night like Tuesday that much harder to stomach.

Mission Bay’s bid for a second straight undefeated regular season was cut short Tuesday, when visiting Granite Hills handed the Buccaneers a 3-2 defeat. It was Mission Bay’s first loss in San Diego County in their last 27 contests.

Granite Hills’ Nicholas McKindley silenced the home crowd when he delivered the game-winning goal with just over one minute left in stoppage time.

“We wanted to just come out here and put together a complete game,” Granite Hills coach Sami Nedjar said. “We had a nice lead, but Mission Bay showed their metal and battled back. But we made some shifts there at the end, and it worked out for us.”

Few teams have proven capable enough to match Mission Bay’s offensive production and persistence this year. That’s precisely what the Eagles did in the first half.

After a dormant first 10 minutes of action, the Eagles would find their footing near the first half’s midway point, earning corner kicks in the 13th and 17th minutes and continuously holding possession in the attacking third.

The dam eventually broke in the 21st minute, when Leonidas Ortiz flicked a beautiful ball ahead to the waiting feet of Raed Alanewka, who buried his shot in the back of the net to make it 1-0 Eagles.

Two minutes later, Alanewka and the Eagles struck again. His second goal rattled into the bottom left corner of the net to make it 2-0.

“Both of those goals the first half came were off things we had been putting extra emphasis on at practice,” Nedjar said.

“It had been a year-long thing, and we had been talking about it and talking about it, so it was nice to see us finally execute it.”

The Buccaneers flashed their championship mettle in the second half. They came out pressing on the attack, striking for two quick goals of their own.

In the 45th minute, Mission Bay junior Kai Broitman made it a 2-1 game. Then, in the 68th minute, Mission Bay would find the equalizer thanks to a 25-yard rocket off the right foot of junior Aidan Anderson that slid just beyond the outstretched reach of the Eagles’ goalie.

Tied at 2-2, and with just three minutes of stoppage time to play, the match seemed poised to finish in a tie.

McKindley’s heroics came just in time.

“It was a great play,” Nedjar said. “This could be a turning point kind of game; we have to come out and play every game like this.”