Rio Mesa edges Porterville 4-2 in Regional first round

The Panther boys’ soccer team’s long season finally ended in Oxnard, Tuesday night.

No. 5 Porterville lost 4-2 to No. 4 Rio Mesa in the first round of the Division II Regional Tournament.

Porterville scored the night’s first goal in the first minute of action, as junior striker Ismael “Rooney” Perez hammered home his first shot of the night. 

The Panthers held the lead for more than 20 minutes before Rio Mesa tied it up. The Spartans scored off a long throw-in that sailed over the Panthers’ defense, leaving a forward one-on-one with goalie Diego Mendoza.

“That really fired them up,” Porterville coach Angel Vallin said of the Spartans’ first goal. “They had a lot of support; we only had about 10 parents. Once you reach this level, you can’t make any mistakes or else you’re done.”

The re-energized Spartans knocked in another goal toward the end of the half and put Porterville’s chances of advancing in serious jeopardy with a goal 10 minutes into the second half. 

But Perez refused to let his team get ambushed, as he scored his second goal five minutes later.

Porterville spent the next 25-plus minutes with its attackers trying desperately to create a scoring chance, but they couldn’t put the tying goal in. 

Rio Mesa could, capitalizing on Porterville’s offensively geared formation to net their fourth goal, in fast-break fashion, in the final minute of play.

“After losing in Valley, they were really up for this,” Vallin said. “But we couldn’t put our goals in and they did. 

“In my opinion, though, we probably should’ve won this game. But I hate to make excuses. It was a very exciting game and they won it.”

The Panthers concluded their season with a 28-5 record.