Kennedy Comes Up Short in Its Bid to Reach Boys’ City Soccer Final, 2-0

An extra day of preparation might have helped many teams but it left Kennedy High without two starters and its coach pondering what might have been after host Garfield recorded a 2-0 win Wednesday in a boys’ City Section soccer semifinal.

Miguel Gomez headed in a pair of second-half goals to lift Garfield (10-1-2) into Saturday’s final. The Bulldogs, winners of four City titles, will be making their sixth championship-match appearance in 20 years under Coach Tony Ceritelli.

The match originally was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon but was postponed because of rain and poor field conditions.

Kennedy midfielder Danny Cardenas was unable to play because he was visiting his grandmother who had suffered a heart attack earlier this week, and defender Eddie Depaz had a work commitment.

“I don’t know if we would have won with those two players in the lineup,” Kennedy Coach Fred Singer said, “but we definitely would have won more balls and had more control out there.”

Still, the Golden Cougars (10-3-4) battled Garfield on even terms in the first half. Kennedy missed a chance to take the lead in the 15th minute. After pulling Bulldog goalkeeper Armando Rodriguez out of position, sophomore forward Paul Inez rushed his shot at an open net and chipped it wide of the left post.

Carlos Valencia set up the decisive goal six minutes into the second half, making a run up the right sideline and chipping the ball into the penalty area on the left side. Gomez then beat Francisco Reynoso with a sharp header inside the left post.

The second goal--with 10 minutes remaining--was almost identical. Valencia again carried the play up the right wing and Gomez again scored with a header inside the left post, his ninth goal.