What happened: San Clemente scored with less than two minutes remaining to break a scoreless tie and defeat South Coast rival Mission Viejo, 1-0, Wednesday evening at MVHS.

Records: 11-5-5, 3-2-2; Mission Viejo 5-9-2; 3-4

How it looked: Mission Viejo played like the stronger team for most of the match. But both coaches praised San Clemente’s effort. The Tritons kept working, and working hard. They finally capitilized when the Diablos broke down defensively late.

No doubt Mission Viejo deserved a tie at the very least in this one, but like both coaches said, give San Clemente credit for finding a way to win the game.

Who scored: Steve Palacios was in the right spot when the ball came free in front of net and he touched it in. The Diablos had just cleared a free kick entry by San Clemente, when Alex Vlosky sent the ball into the box, where Palacios finished.

Impact: San Clemente and Mission Viejo entered the match tied for third place with 6 points each. It would have been a huge win for either team, but now the Tritons own the tiebreaker because they won both meetings with the Diablos this year.

High five to …: Tritons goalie Andrew Cuchessi. Back in net for his first full game since injuring his shoulder the day before league started, the senior keeper owned the box today.

Tritons coach Michael Pronier let it be known he felt back up Max Phillips did a good job while Cuchessi was out. But the Tritons are a different team with Cuchessi’s presence in the box.

More from the boys soccer blog:

• Boys soccer: Brawl ends Saddleback-Santa Ana game
• Boys soccer: Tobolski’s 3 of the day
• Boys soccer: Five matches to watch
• Boys soccer: Weekly contest (Dottore’s picks)
• Boys soccer: Weekly contest (Calhoun’s picks)
• Boy soccer: Weekly contest (Tobolski’s picks)
• New CIF boys soccer rankings (Feb. 2)

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