The Sonoma Valley High soccer Dragons live to play another day.
The ninth-seeded Dragons Wednesday beat the eighth-seeded Drake Pirates, 3-1, in the opening round of the Division 3 North Coast Section championships. Sonoma gets to face top-seeded Miramonte Saturday evening.
Wednesday, the Dragons got out to a 1-0 lead in the first two minutes. Drake tied the game late in the first half, but Sonoma got another quick goal to take a 2-1 halftime lead.
Sonoma hung on to its one goal lead through most of the second half with goalie Joseph Angulo making a number of great – and sometimes acrobatic – saves to keep the Pirates off the board.
With time running out in the second half, Sonoma scored a third goal to put the game away.
The Dragons got goals from Bryan Rodriguez, with an assist by Edwin Mancilla; Sami Contreras, with an assist by Christian Prudente; and Mancilla, unassisted.
“It was a great team win,” said Dragon Coach Pedro Merino. “We were playing on a foreign field, and that’s always tough.”
Merino said the season came together little by little, and that the team is humble.
“They trust the coaches and play the system,” he said. “They play valiantly. That’s what counts.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s game against top-seeded Miramonte, Merino said that at this time of year, all the games are tough.
Saturday’s game is at 7 p.m. at Miramonte High School, 750 Moraga Way in Orinda. The winner of Saturday’s match would face the winner of the Rancho Cotate-Piner match. That game would be played on Feb. 21 with the Division 3 championship game set for Saturday, Feb. 24.
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