SANTA ANA – Century boys soccer coach Bruce Silverman stood on the field after the nonleague portion of the Centurions’ schedule had come to an end with a 2-1 loss to Paramount on Friday, wondering if he had been a bit too hard on his players this season.
Five of the teams the Division 2 Centurions have faced are ranked in the top 10 of the most recent CIF-SS Division 1 poll, including the Pirates.
“I can’t imagine that there is anyone in Orange County that has had as tough of a schedule as we did,” Silverman said. “So, with that being said, our record is absolutely horrible.”
The Centurions fell to 2-6-5 after losing to Paramount.
Servite, San Clemente and Loyola are among the six teams to beat Century, and all of those teams advanced at least as far as the semifinals in Division 1 the past two seasons. Loyola is the defending Southern Section champions.
Century was in each of those matches, losing by one goal to Servite and Loyola and by two goals to San Clemente.
Century held a 1-0 lead over Paramount after Brian Rojas guided a 20-yard shot inside the left post in the sixth minute.
In the 27th minute, it appeared Rojas put Century up 2-0, but his goal was waived off because of an offside call.
Silverman said that proved to be the game’s turning point.
While the Centurions argued the call, Paramount freshman goalkeeper Oscar Sierra sent a free kick flying down the field to Bryan Ortega, who tied the score, 1-1, while the Centurions were distracted.
The Centurions were still frustrated by the call after the game, saying Rojas drilled a shot into the back of the net after Sierra batted away a shot from Amirgy Pineda.
“The goalkeeper is a defender, it is not offsides because we didn’t play him the ball,” Silverman said. “Then after we argued, the referee came back and said he was in an offside position before Ami’s shot, which is not true.”
Six minutes later, Ortega provided the assist on Andrew Hernandez’s winner.
Contact the writer: ddottore@ocregister.com
