Big crowd watches University Trojans capture CIF Division 4 soccer championship

University soccer players celebrate a CIF championship Saturday night. (Photo courtesy Daryl Bogard, For OC Sports Zone.)

University’s boys soccer team won the CIF Division 4 final at home over Granite Hills 3-0 in front of close to 1,000 fans Saturday night.

Granite Hills (16-5-5) came ready to play, controlling roughly the first eight minutes of the game. It won the Desert Sky League championship and was the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.

Each team had several scoring chances in the first half. University final got on the board less than three minutes before halftime. Senior Ryan Heyati scored his eighth goal of the season in a scramble for a rebound in front of the goal off a free kick.

In the 53rd minute, Granite Hills was about to score on a point blank breakaway, but Lucca Clouthier came up big with a resounding save. In the 60th minute senior forward Jake Rabold tucked a loose ball into the right corner for his ninth goal of the season.

No-3 seeded University (15-5-1) put the game away in the 87th minute when senior Pavlos Mikhael scored his fifth goal of the season on a high arching, 30-yard free kick from the left sideline over the goalkeeper’s gloves just under the crossbar.

Clouthier came up big for the Trojans with five saves en route to his seventh shutout and fourth in the playoffs. The Trojans move on to the CIF So Cal Regionals next week.

—Courtesy Daryl Bogard, For OC Sports Zone