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 incredible postseason run for Long Beach Poly boys’ soccer came to a disappointing end at home on Tuesday night.
Visiting El Camino Real scored twice in each half of the 2023 CIF SoCal Boys Soccer Division II Championships first round game and beat Poly 4-0.
The Jackrabbits lost in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 final on Saturday, and it looked like they were playing with that loss still on their minds.
“We just invested so much emotionally over the weekend, and it felt like we just ran out of gas,” Poly coach Eric Leon said. “It happens to a lot of teams in this tournament and that’s why you see so many lopsided scores in this tournament all the time.”
El Camino Real outshot Poly 8-6 in the game, and the Jackrabbits didn’t put a shot on goal until the 78th minute.
The Royals scored on their first two shots of the game. The first came via penalty kick converted by Edan Lavarovitch in the 23rd minute, and then two minutes later when Bladdimir Coto met Anthony Villas’ long cross at the back post.
“I felt that we were still in it,” Leon said despite the 2-0 halftime deficit. “When we had the ball we produced, it just didn’t bounce our way.”
Joshua Cholico led the Poly offense with three shots in the second half, but couldn’t find the target. Mekhi Celifie scored again for El Camino Real in the 59th minute, and then Coto scored his second goal in the 73rd minute.
“I wish we could’ve given the full version of who we are,” Leon said. “But we appreciate the support that came out today. Even though we came up heavily short, I’m still proud of the boys.”
After the post game talk, Leon took his underclassman aside to deliver a message.
“The blueprint is laid out now and the underclassmen need to mature and be held accountable for everything from showing up to practice on time and stopping the selfishness,” Leon said. “We have a really good core coming back, and we’ve played some very important, clutch games with PK scenarios. Now they have all of that experience and they set the standard for themselves. Anything other than another CIF finals appearance will be a let down.”
