It was a big day for the juniors on Serra soccer’s Senior Day.

Not only did the Padres’ leading scorer, junior forward Nate Coughlin, return to action for the first time after being sidelined since mid-January. Goalkeeper Rafael Steinberger and midfielder Aydin Paz, both juniors, were the driving force in Serra’s 2-1 win over Valley Christian in Saturday’s home regular-season finale.
 

The victory looms large in the West Catholic Athletic League standings, solidifying Serra in third place with one regular-season game remaining. With the WCAL guaranteed two automatic bids to the Central Coast Sections playoffs — those two bids have already been cinched by St. Francis and Mitty — a third-place finish is the best route to an at-large bid.

 
“There’s a big cluster between third and sixth,” Serra head coach Mike Keller said. “And, you know our league, there’s a lot of good teams. … You can’t [qualify for an at-large bid] before a team that finishes above you in the standings. So, that’s why third place is a big deal for us.”
Serra (5-3-4 WCAL, 9-5-5 overall) now stands in third with 20 points, ahead of fourth-place Bellarmine with 18 points. The schedule favors the Padres, who travel to last-place Sacred Heart Cathedral for Wednesday’s WCAL finale. Bellarmine faces a more daunting opponent in hosting first-place St. Francis, with the Lancers needing no worse than a draw to be guaranteed the WCAL championship.

Fifth-place Valley Christian (15 points) and sixth-place St. Ignatius (14 points) cannot catch Serra in the standings.

The Padres have Steinberger’s high-flying skills to thank for taking care of business Saturday against Valley Christian (4-6-3, 7-7-3). The junior goalkeeper was in CGI mode from the outset, leaving his feet for several full-extension saves, including the highway robbery of Valley’s Aaron VanderVeen on a 1-v-1 bolt in the 18th minute.
“I think that was just a good textbook reaction save,” Steinberger said. “It was a good-placed shot, but as long as you have a good split step, you can really move anywhere in the goal.”
The highlight-reel save not only preserved a 0-0 tie in the early going, it fueled the Padres with a slingshot of momentum for their ensuing attack.
“He’s been huge all year,” Keller said. “First half today, he killed it. And then a couple saves on corners. He was fantastic. … He had two or three clutch saves in the first half, and that just really helps us keep it 0-0 when we’re able to poke one up.”

Serra got on the board in the 19th minute, quickly playing the ball forward to the far corner to earn a close throw-in. The Padres kept the possession and quickly played it into the middle for Paz, a natural left-footer who got caught on his weak foot. With his back to the goal, the junior initially looked to distribute before sensing daylight. So, he wheeled and fired, and connected with his right foot to give Serra a 1-0 lead.
“I was going to lay it off, and then he kind of tried to run around me,” Paz said. “So, I turned, and I saw that there was no one in front of me. So, I just felt like I had to shoot it, and I guess I got lucky.”

After a stout finish to the first half, Serra opened the second with a stunner. The Padres scored on the second-half kickoff, with Paz connecting with senior forward Eddie Velazquez on a breakaway.
“It was just like a textbook play,” Velazquez said. “We got the ball, they passed it back to me, I passed it back to middle, and then I just ran behind the defenders and just took it from there.”

Paz was initially looking for senior midfielder Baden Smith on the play but, after the Valley Christian defense bit to cover him, Velazquez was all alone.
“(Velazquez) played it back to me and then I faked it long so both the strikers jumped,” Paz said. “I ran up the middle, I had Baden in the space for a 1-2, and then I played it past the line; I played a little through ball for Eddie, and he was able to run on for a beautiful finish.”

Velazquez now ranks second on the Padres with six goals on the season, while Paz ranks third with five goals. Coughlin leads the team with 14, but had his minutes limited Saturday, 10 in the first half and 10 more in the second, while he regains his sea legs in returning from injury.

“For me, I’ve got to run more now,” Velazquez said. “Since Nate isn’t on the field, it’s just moving around more and just running, looking for spaces.”
Then the Serra defense finished with a flourish. Valley Christian made it interesting by getting on the board in the 63rd minute, executing a corner kick to the back post for senior Caleb Gutierrez to head it in, cutting the Padres’ lead in half at 2-1.

The Warriors kept up the aggression and pushed the Serra defense into its back tier. But the midfielder shored up nicely, and consistent disruptions — including a clutch clearance by junior defenseman Justin Hollister after Steinberger left his feet to push a shot attempt wide — kept Valley from finding any tempo to the goal.

“Credit to Valley, that’s two games in a row where we’ve had them, and they haven’t given up and they’ve come back on us a little bit,” Keller said. “So, I was really proud of the guys because it was a tough performance.”

Steinberger added one more diving save in the 76th minute on a tight angle off the end line from Valley sophomore Jack Mitchell. The Warriors’ best chance to tie it came in the 80th minute when freshman Brandon Lam hustled a shot with a step into the penalty area, but had his attempt sail just over the crossbar.

“Senior Day, a lot on the line, and the guys showed a lot of grit to get it done,” Keller said. “I was just hoping for the guys to have some good camaraderie, some good fight, and they did.”