Tigers Pull Off Epic Comeback Against Crescenta Valley

For almost the entire game the South Pasadena boys soccer team was clearly at a disadvantage against Crescenta Valley.

The Falcons jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, and the Tigers eventually found themselves behind 3-1 in the second half.

But South Pasadena staged a furious comeback in the final minutes of Wednesday's game to beat the Falcons 4-3 and even its record at 1-1. The comeback was made possible in part because of senior goalie Vitecha Kochaon's solid play in the net, and the explosive offensive play from junior Cody Dunn and senior Benjamin Charney.

The Tigers started out slowly with some mental errors, which led to a 1-0 deficit early in the first half.

"We did the same thing as the previous game when we make stupid mistakes on the back and of course the other teams are going to make it happen," South Pasadena coach Juan Zurita said. "We did it in the first half and it led to two goals for them."

The Tigers trailed 2-0 late in the first half when Dunn scored with a few minutes to go in the half to put South Pasadena on the board. Crescenta Valley junior Michael Schanazarians scored midway through the second half to give the Falcons a seemingly insurmountable 3-1 lead.

But Dunn soon was awarded a penalty kick and sent a shot top shelf, high into the net, grazing the crossbar to put them right back into the game.

With the less than 10 minutes to play in the game Charney took over. Charney tied the game just seconds after Dunn's goal when he placed a perfectly struck ball into the net at full speed.

Charney then ended the scoring and put the Tigers up 4-3 just moments after his game-tying goal.

"We talked at halftime, made some adjustments and somehow it worked out," Zurita said. "We pulled out the game and it was pretty quick."