Palacios Scores in OT to Lift San Clemente's Boys to Quarterfinals

With the season on the line in overtime and San Clemente awarded a penalty kick with a chance to advance to the quarterfinals, there was absolutely, positively no way that Steve Palacios was going to let anyone else take the kick that could win the game.

 Palacios, a senior forward, has scored 20 goals the past two seasons for the Tritons, but had not attempted a penalty kick all season. That job normally goes to the other co-captain, Kevin Gould. But Palacios told his teammates that it was his time.

“I knew he could do it,” said senior midfielder Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, after watching Palacios practice penalty kicks three hours before the match. “He wanted it.”

Palacios rocketed a low shot to the right of Palos Verdes goalkeeper Arya Ghadimi, then ripped off his jersey and ran to celebrate with his teammates. San Clemente had pulled out an emotional, hard-fought 2-1 triumph over the Sea Kings Wednesday night in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs before a raucous crowd at Thalassa Stadium in San Clemente.

The Tritons (14-6-7), runners-up in the South Coast League, will travel on Friday to La Canada to face St. Francis, a 2-0 winner over fourth-seeded Ventura Wednesday, for a quarterfinal match. Palos Verdes ends its season at 19-4-4, suffering its first loss of the season on an opponent’s field.

San Clemente makes its second consecutive trip to quarterfinals. In the past two seasons, the Tritons have been eliminated from the playoffs on penalty kicks.

“It’s nice to have one go our way for a change,” Tritons coach Mike Pronier said.

Palacios’ goal against the Sea Kings came in the 12th minute of overtime. Sophomore midfielder Gage Zerboni passed down the right sideline to sophomore forward Justice Duerksen, who worked his way back in front of the net but was knocked to the ground by Scott MacNaughton and the penalty was called.

After a brief discussion, Palacios lined up for the kick and knocked it through for the 39th goal of his high school career. He missed the first couple of weeks of the season with a fractured foot incurred during club season.

“Kevin [Gould] usually takes the penalty kick, but Steve felt very strong about taking it,” said Pronier, who initially appeared upset after the goal but later was all smiles. “They are the co-captains so I was fine with it. But it’s a good thing he made it.”

It appeared that it would be a high-scoring contest in the beginning as both teams scored on their first shot attempts.

Zerboni got the Tritons on the board first at 30:20 by taking a pass in the middle, spinning to his right and shooting the ball quickly into the lower right-hand corner past Ghadimi for his seventh goal of the season. However, seven minutes later, the Sea Kings’ top player, senior Matt Mardesich, tied the score with a perfectly-placed direct kick from 40 yards away that curled into the upper right-hand corner of the net.

From that point on, Tritons goalkeeper Dylan Digiacomo shut out the Sea Kings with five saves, but was never seriously challenged as San Clemente took control of the match in the second half. The Tritons kept Palos Verdes pinned in its half of the field for most of the final 50 minutes, including overtime, and had three excellent scoring opportunities in the final two minutes of regulation to win the game.

Zerboni’s corner kick went to senior forward Tom Wiechert, whose shot went through the goal crease but stayed out. Then Oscar Vasquez was fouled outside the 18, but the direct kick was blocked by a defender. And just before the end of regulation, a corner kick by Zerboni was headed on top of the net by Wiechert.

“I thought we came out a little flat in the first half, but in the second half and overtime we came back and responded to pressure,” Pronier said. “Jesus Garcia had one of his better games of the season. We were working the outside and we set up some good balls. And Gage really stepped up and gave us a lift in the second half.”

Palos Verdes finished with six shots on goal, while San Clemente had five.