Prep Soccer: Victor Valley tops Oxford Academy to reach CIF SoCal regional title game against San Gorgonio

It’s a formula that has worked for the Victor Valley boys soccer team and on Thursday night it’s what punched a ticket to a CIF State Southern California Regional championship game.

The Jackrabbits forced overtime and went on to beat Oxford Academy 4-2 in a penalty kicks shootout, to set up a rematch with San Gorgonio.

Victor Valley lost to San Gorgonio 1-0 in the CIF-Southern Section Division 6 title game earlier this week and will head back to San Bernardino for the Division 5 regional title game.

It’s the fifth time winning by PKs in six Victor Valley playoff victories so far. Victor Valley won all four games leading up to the Division 6 title game by shootout. The Jackrabbits beat Roybal 2-0 in the first round earlier this week.

“It’s all about confidence, it’s the trust we’ve built in practicing PKs everyday, even on our recovery days cause we know we could easily get to this point again,” Victor Valley head coach Julio Hernandez said.

Ismael Estrada took the first shot and it was blocked by the goalkeeper. Oxford Academy’s first shot went wide to the right for a miss.

Jonathan Guzman took Victor Valley’s second shot, and found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

As has been the case for Victor Valley, goalkeeper Emmanuel Lopez blocked Oxford Academy’s next attempt by diving to his left.

“It felt good to get the block, but it’s nothing new, I’m already used to it,” Lopez joked. “I had a lot of confidence in my team because we’ve been here before. So it just felt good to get another win in PKs.”

Gage Graves doubled the lead to 2-0 after hitting the right-side of the net on Victor Valley’s third attempt.

After Oxford Academy hit its third attempt, Lopez stepped up for his shot and found the back of the net for a 3-1 lead.

Lopez nearly ended it with a block on Oxford Academy’s fourth attempt. He dove to his left and made contact with the ball. But it deflected off his right hand and into the net.

Paez stepped up for the game-winner to send the Jackrabbits to the championship game.

“It was a lot of stress because I missed my last one in the semis against AB Miller,” Paez said. “I wasn’t really confident but I knew I had to step up for my team. I took it, placed it and then I knew I could beat the keeper.”

Oxford Academy took a 1-0 lead at the midway point of the first half.

The lead held until the 55th minute when Oxford Academy was called for a penalty.

Bryan Solis stepped up for the penalty kick and tied it up.

“Just pure excitement once he hit it,” Hernandez said. “The moment the ball hits the back of the net is just a special moment, and especially to tie it up for us.”

In the regional tournament, the teams play one 15-minute overtime period of sudden death before going to the shootout.

Victor Valley nearly ended it with a shot from Paez that Oxford Academy’s goalkeeper made a diving stop on with about five minutes left.

Paez fired off another shot that was blocked a couple minutes later before the final whistle blew, indicating PKs.

“Once it went in, it felt amazing to celebrate with the team,” Paez said.

Saturday’s regional title game is scheduled for 6 p.m. at San Gorgonio High School.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Prep Soccer: Victor Valley tops Oxford Academy to reach CIF SoCal regional title game