SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – The JSerra boys soccer team went into its game against Birmingham on Saturday afternoon believing that if its strong defense did its job, Reagan Heslin would do the rest and the Lions would end their season with another championship.
Heslin, a senior, scored the first two goals of the match to lead the Lions to a 3-0 victory over Birmingham in the CIF Southern California Division I Regional final at JSerra High.
The victory gave the Lions (20-1-1) their first SoCal Regional title. Last week, they won the CIF-SS Division 1 title.
The win also avenged JSerra’s 3-2 loss in last season’s regional playoffs to Birmingham (22-2-3).
“I couldn’t ask for anything more,” JSerra coach Erik Kirsch said of his players. “They basically have taken the program over with championship leadership. Reagan is the MaxPreps player of the Year, CIF Player of the Year. That’s why he is that guy.”
The Lions’ goal was to stop Birmingham’s strong duo of Jerry Ramos and Oscar Vargas and their defense did that, keeping them away from the net and with Noah Nesson’s nine saves.
Postgame interview with Reagan Heslin of JSerra. 2 goals for Heslin as the Lions take the CIF SoCal Regional title! @ocvarsity @JSerraAthletics @JSerraBSoccer @JSCHS_Lions pic.twitter.com/iPdeH0UEAd
— Manny Alvarez (@MAlvarez02) March 5, 2023
JSerra, which is ranked No. 2 in the nation by MaxPreps, scored its first goal in the 38th minute. Heslin scored and Nathan Aquino had the assist.
The Lions held a 1-0 lead at halftime.
Heslin scored the second goal in the 58th minute with Jake Tatch on the assist.
“That first goal was a team goal,” Heslin said. “It wasn’t just me, everyone helped out. Thankfully Nate gave me a great cross and I was able to finish it. The second goal, we worked hard defensively. Defense was clutch. We were able to get out of the press and thankfully I was able to finish it on a free-kick, which is something I do practice a lot. I’m really happy to finally see it come to fruition.”
JSerra came close to a third goal, but the Patriots defense battled near the net with much help from goalie Josh Guerrero, who had five saves.
Postgame interview with Noah Nesson as he records the shutout in JSerra CIF SoCal Regional victory!@ocvarsity @JSerraAthletics @JSerraBSoccer @JSCHS_Lions pic.twitter.com/YtzGen7Qfx
— Manny Alvarez (@MAlvarez02) March 5, 2023
The Lions eventually got their third goal in the 72nd minute, from Noah Pechuls with Noah Parks on the assist.
“JSerra deserved the win,” Birmingham coach E.B. Madha said. “They outworked us, they had a great game plan. The result was fair today. Our boys carried a lot of weight on their shoulders. I’m proud of our boys, especially the ones going on to college.”
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The Patriots battled in the final minutes to prevent a shutout, but Nesson and the JSerra defense kept the clean sheet.
“They definitely had my back today,” Nesson said of the team’s defense. “I had a lot of communication with them. We made sure we were organized. I had to finish up a little bit, but they made it easy for me. It just comes down to culture with our team. We’ve had great culture across the whole season. These guys are like family to me. It’s the backbone of our team.”