Four minutes into double-overtime against Fillmore, with both his parents and grandparents watching and a wildcard game win on the line, Canyon boys soccer’s Aroldo Mazariegos shot his shot.
And he scored.
Mazariegos’ golden goal brought the Cowboys a 3-2 win in the CIF-Southern Section Division 5 playoffs, marking the first appearance in playoffs since the 2010-11 season and the first playoff win since the 2009-10 season.
“It’s exciting for the school, it’s exciting for the program,” said coach Robert Benavidez. “It’s exciting for these boys, especially those who were here last year.
“They started this year kind of slow and last half of league things finally clicked and they started grinding and got the ball to bounce our way.”
David Hernandez scored first for Canyon (9-12-4) with a goal coming off a penalty kick in the first half.
The Cowboys didn’t dent the scoreboard again until nearly 15 minutes into the second half. Adam Rodriguez netted a goal with an assist from Alex Delgado.
After 80 minutes, with the scored tied at 2-2, it was time to test Canyons’ composure in overtime.
“We had fought so hard going on the road,” said Benavidez of what he told his team in overtime. “Any time, but especially in playoffs, it’s going to be difficult and you have an opportunity to walk out of here with a ‘W’, keep our composure, keep grinding things out and hopefully things will happen.”
Adam Rodriguez was credited with an assist on Mazariegos’ game-winning goal and had played a crucial role against the Flashes (9-9-4) the entirety of the game.
“Especially up top, he had a lot of speed and he created a lot of other opportunities,” Benavidez said.
“From an attacking standpoint, helped us out in set plays with headers, clearing the area. He was very critical to us tonight.”
Canyon is slated to play at Eastside of Lancaster on Friday with a start time of 5 p.m.
