SAN BERNARDINO >> A playmaker, a poacher and an impenetrable wall put up another ‘W’ for the San Gorgonio boys soccer team.
Ezequiel Soto set it up, Jamil Gutierrez scored it and Matthew Guzman kept another clean sheet as the Spartans secured a 1-0 victory over St. Genevieve in the CIF State Southern California Regional Division V semifinals.
“We’re made for these types of situations,” Gutierrez said. “This is history. We just have to keep making history.”
Gutierrez scored for the fourth consecutive match as San Gorgonio (28-3-1) moved one victory away from a historic double — section and regional championships in the same season.
The Spartans, the CIF Southern Section Division 6 champions, host No. 2 seed Victor Valley in the regional Division V championship match Saturday.
“We had a goal from Day 1 and now we just need one more,” San Gorgonio coach Adrian Villalobos said.
Gutierrez, who scored in the CIF Southern Section semifinals and finals, scored again for San Gorgonio in the 32nd minute to give the Spartans a lead when he cleaned up a loose ball inside the penalty area.
“He’s got hot for us at the right time,” Villalobos said. “He’s been our guy the last few games.”
Unbeaten at home this season (15-0-0), San Gorgonio is riding an 11-match winning streak and has only one loss over its last 25 matches.
“We didn’t want to come out too crazy and too fast, and I think (St. Genevieve) did come out a little too aggressive, but we handled it well,” Villalobos said.
San Gorgonio came out shooting in the second half but ended up absorbing pressure from the CIF-SS Division 7 champions.
Led by center back Edwin Lopez, San Gorgonio’s defense made it difficult for St. Genevieve (15-5-2), which was unbeaten over its last eight.
“We’re pretty confident. We know what we have,” Lopez said. “We have a good defense. We’ve had a lot of clean sheets.”
St. Genevieve produced three dangerous scoring attempts in the first half – one a side-winding free kick – but Guzman had that and everything else covered.