It’s confirmed: the conference’s two powerhouses, El Farolito and Napa Valley 1839 FC, will meet in the conference final at Kezar Stadium on July 12, with the winner likely to receive a bid in the 2025 U.S. Open Cup.
El Farolito Falls Behind, Rallies to Beat Sacramento
Erik Arias scored four goals on four headers in El Farolito’s 4-2 win over Sacramento Gold FC at Boxer Stadium in San Francisco on Saturday afternoon.
The home crowd was shocked when Sacramento took the lead in the 8th minute. The visitors sent a long ball into the box. Joseph Restani trapped the ball and slipped it past El Farolito goalkeeper Julian Escobar.
But the hosts responded quickly, scoring in the 11th minute on a cross by Daouda Sidibe that Arias headed home at the far post.
The referee handed out four yellow cards in the first 30 minutes of the match, including Jhohann Yabur (13th minute) and Erik Arias (29th minute) of El Farolito. He also booked a pair of Sacramento players, Mike Mazzoni (18th minute) and Erik Montejano (30th minute).
Farolito took a 2-1 lead in the 33rd minute, with Arias heading home a short cross.
The turning point of the match came in the 43rd minute, when Montejano received his second yellow card for a clumsy challenge from behind. The Sacramento coaching staff erupted in anger, making insinuations of bias and secret payoffs to the referee. Head Coach Phil Wright was also yellow carded.
The bad blood continued as the second half began, with the referee delaying the start of the half until Montejano left the seating area. And there were additional yellow cards, to Sacramento’s Chris Christian and El Farolito’s Omar Quiroga.
“I think it was a very soft red in the first half,” Wright said after the match. “The ref set the tone by giving early yellows to both teams. So all of a sudden there’s six yellow cards and now you’ve got six guys that [can’t afford to] make one mistake with two minutes left in the half. It’s a foul. I think he could have talked to [Montejano] and that changes the game. But, you know, listen, let’s give [El Farolito] credit for the team they are.”
El Farolito got some breathing room in the 54th minute, when Arias headed home a free kick into the box from near the right sideline to make the score 3-1.
Sacramento received a lifeline in the 77th minute, when a Farolito defender was whistled for a handball in the box, as his teammates argued that the ball did not come into contact with his upper arm. Preston Moll converted the penalty, bringing the visitors to within one goal.
El Farolito closed out the match in the 83rd minute, when Gabriel Arias took a free kick from 30 yards out and a Farolito attacker headed the ball over to Erik Arias for the finish.
Sacramento players vented their frustration to the referee after the goal, with Alexis Vazques receiving a straight red and Brandon Gutierrez and Christian Powell receiving yellows.
El Farolito had a few more chances in the waning moments of the match, with Carlos Rodriguez missing on a header from close range and Erik Arias putting the ball into the net for a fifth time in the match as he was whistled for offside.
Farolito’s Head Coach Santiago Lopez said that his team struggled to execute their game plan, perhaps because of their nervousness of playing in a winner take all match.
“We had a lot of unforced errors and they scored on a confusing long ball into the area,” Lopez said. “We were fortunate enough to manage to tie the game after that and then going up 2-1 and then the red card really did a big favor for us. There are a lot of things that are still unclear from us but we’re definitely gonna work on those in the next two weeks.”
In the end, both coaches expressed admiration for their opponents.
“It’s always great to play against a team that we don’t know,” Lopez said. “All the players are from a different region. The intensity is always high. It’s different players every single time and they know how to play the ball. And so it’s always great, a great intensity and good competitiveness.”
“I think both teams respect each other, and when they get on the field, they compete,” Wright said. “It’s an emotional game. We have the utmost respect for them. I think they have respect for us. We battle for 90 minutes and then the game’s over.”
Napa Outlasts San Ramon
Napa Valley 1839 booked their place in the conference championship match with a 2-1 win over San Ramon FC.
The match remained scoreless for the full 90 minutes, necessitating 30 minutes of extra time. Napa finally broke through in the 99th minute. Dario Pavon made a long run up the right sideline, then passed the ball to Victor Cascon on the overlap. Cascon dribbled the ball into the penalty area, then blasted a shot that beat San Ramon goalkeeper Luis Evangelista at the near post.
Cascon and Pavon also teamed up to score what turned out to be the winning goal for Napa in the 115th minute. Hoping to waste time, Cascon dribbled the ball down the right sideline, then along the goal line. As he approached the goal, he dished the ball off to Pavon who was perched at the near post. Pavon trapped the ball, whirled around, and deposited the ball inside the far post.
San Ramon’s Kaden Standish was red carded in stoppage time for a sliding tackle that took down a Napa player from behind.
Even after his team was reduced to 10 men, San Ramon’s Owen Benson gave his team hope by scoring in the 120th minute. Danny Turgeon booted the ball the length of the field. A Napa player misplayed the ball coming off of the artificial turf and Benson took advantage, dribbling around Napa goalkeeper Javier Valdez and depositing the ball into the empty net.
As Napa dribbled around to try and use up the clock, Pavon was taken down with a body check in the waning moments of the match. A Napa trainer led him to the sidelines with a possible shoulder injury.
Moments before the final whistle blew, San Ramon had one more chance on a cross headed for Andrew Alvardo at the far post. Alvardo slid on the turf to get off a shot, but it ended up in the side netting.
