Photos: De La Salle Defeats Clayton Valley, 2-1, Advances to NCS Soccer Finals

The De La Salle (19-3-2) boys soccer team beat Clayton Valley (19-5-3) 2-1 in the North Coast Section Division I semifinal match on Wednesday evening. The two teams previously met Dec. 21 with the Eagles winning 1-0, handing the Spartans their only conference loss.

The Spartans commanded the first half with precision passing, keeping the Clayton Valley boys on their heels. Eagles defenders had particular problems with the Spartans' forward Carlo Eikani, who was able to get the ball along the sidelines and crossed it to the center numerous times. Clayton Valley senior forward Josh Gomez nearly scored in the 36th minute with a clear shot on goal, but hit the crossbars.

Clayton Valley was able to hold off the Spartan's attack, but penalties got the best of them. Both De La Salle's goals came from freekicks in the first half.

Senior winger Damian Martinez scored from after a penalty in the 21st minute. Just three minutes later, the Spartans were awarded another freekick that junior midfielder Nic Bob lobbed in from the 30-yard line with an assist from senior defender Johnny Marcinkowski. 

"We knew they were dangerous on set pieces," said Rory Gentry, Clayton Valley's head coach. "They're very good on them and we didn't adjust quickly so that's where they got us."

The second half started off sluggish for both teams until a header in the 69th minute from Gomez, assisted by junior forward Kevin Sanchez, ignited both the team and the Eagles fans. Clayton Valley attacked relentlessly in the final ten minutes of play, however, the experienced Spartan defense was able to endure the charge.

"We're fortunate to have a very good goalkeeper who was in the NCS finals last year and three out of our four defenders in the back line are all seniors who have been through multiple championships," said De La Salle coach Derricke Brown. "... they know how to get things done in crunch time and I thought they did a great job of that tonight." 

After the match, Coach Gentry commented on Clayton Valley's season with tears in his eyes. "We had very very good season. We have some kids that are going off to college to play ball. It ended a little bit early, but all-in-all, you can't say anything bad about the season."

De La Salle, first seed in East Bay Athletic League will play fourth-seeded San Ramon Valley on Saturday at Dublin High School.

Stay tuned to Patch for coverage of Saturday's championship match.