The562’s soccer coverage for the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by Beach Futbol Club.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly athletics in the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by Poly alum Jayon Brown and PlayFair Sports Management.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly athletics in the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by JuJu Smith-Schuster and the JuJu Foundation.
The Long Beach Poly boys’ soccer team is trying to keep its historic run going as they travel to Santa Monica at 5 p.m. today for a CIF Southern Section Division 2 semifinal. With a win the Jackrabbits would advance to next Saturday’s championships, as they try to claim a first title since 1999.
This is already the furthest Poly has made it in that time, after a pair of unbelievable, thrilling PK tiebreaker wins to advance through the second round and quarterfinals.
“We’re going through all the emotions, all the highs and all the lows, and we’re loving it,” said Poly coach Eric Leon after his team’s win last round. “Putting it into words? That’s a great question. I don’t know that I can process that right now. It’s the beauty of the game. That’s why joy is round. It hurts us, it breaks our heart sometimes, but then sometimes it brings us together and brings us so much happiness. We’re hoping to keep it going.”
To do so, Poly will need to beat a Santa Monica team that defeated them 2-1 earlier this season. Given how long ago the game was, Leon said he didn’t think either side would be putting much stock in that result.
“It was very early in the season, I’m sure they’re a totally different team, we’re a totally different team,” he said. “We just want to keep the positive momentum going.”
We’ll have live updates from the game as well as full coverage this evening.
