Edgar Melik-Stepanyan
No one would blame Michael Farah for sitting out the remainder of
this season. But the Crescenta Valley High boys' soccer player has
determined not to spend his senior year watching from the sideline.
Farah, playing with a torn meniscus in his left knee, has better
plans than just observing his teammates. Farah and the Falcons, who
are in last place in league, plan on spoiling opponents' hopes of
reaching the postseason.
Farah's two second-half goals and the play of CV's midfield
allowed the Falcons to rally against host Hoover on Thursday, as the
two Pacific League foes played to a 2-2 tie.
"We think we can ruin some teams' chances of making it to the
playoffs," Farah said. "We're gonna keep playing hard."
CV (4-7-7, 1-4-1 in league) didn't sulk after the Tornadoes
(9-4-3, 2-1-3) scored twice in the opening 15 minutes.
The Falcons did a better job of marking Hoover's forwards, as the
Tornadoes managed just three shots in the second half. CV's efforts
on defense created chances on offense, as it pressured the Tornado
defenders into making mistakes.
"We were picking up on our mistakes and not letting their forwards
get the ball as much," Farah said.
Hoover goalkeeper Willie Carballo, who has played like a veteran
all season despite being a freshman, saw his inexperience lead to a
mistake that allowed CV to cut the Tornadoes' lead in half.
Carballo came out on a ball that "he had no chance of getting to,"
-- according to Tornado Coach Mark Rubio -- and gave Farah the
opportunity to head in a shot in front of an empty net in the 53rd
minute.
Twelve minutes later, Hoover made another blunder that gave Farah
a penalty shot. CV's Taichi Yoshimura was pushed from behind in the
penalty box, giving the Falcons an opportunity to tie the match.
Farah capitalized on the chance, beating Carballo to the lower-right
corner of the net.
"The ball was up in the air and there was no reason [for our
defender] to put that much pressure on them," Rubio said.
Falcon Coach Alex Ludwig -- who was ejected from the match in the
70th minute for arguing with the referee -- saw enough of the second
half to say that his team dominated play.
"We missed a lot of balls in the first half, but we came back in
the second half and did a good job," Ludwig said. "We deserved at
least a tie for this."
James Hernandez and Diego Aguirre each scored for the Tornadoes in
the first half, and they seemed like they were going to earn two
points for winning before the Falcons picked up their play. Rubio
said the tie could be critical.
"This league has so much parity that any loss of points or any
loss of opportunities could be critical," Rubio said.
* EDGAR MELIK-STEPANYAN covers sports. He can be reached at (818)
637-3226 or by e-mail at edgar.stepanyan@latimes.com.
