It was a showdown between two unbeaten teams and something had to give Monday afternoon in the Pacific Basin League boys’ soccer championship game. Windward scored five unanswered goals in the second half to defeat St. Matthew’s 6-2 at Mar Vista Park Having outscored its two previous playoff opponents by a combined total of 18-3, the St. Matthew’s 6th-8th grade squad took the field with momentum and confidence against Windward in a rematch of a regular season game that ended in a 1-1 tie. Fittingly, it was 7th-grader Matthew Koh who got the Falcons on the board first in the fourth minute. He scored again 10 minutes later to increase the lead to 2-0. That was nothing new for Koh, who had scored six first-half goals in St. Matthew’s 11-1 quarterfinal win over Wildwood and added four first-half goals in the Falcons’ 7-2 semifinal victory over Brentwood last week. Windward pulled to within 2-1 by halftime and then took control in the second half with an offensive intensity the Falcons just couldn’t match. St. Matthew’s goalie Cameron Schiffer made 18 saves, including a blocked penalty kick. Koh had chances in the second half along with Jeffrey Elhers, Brandon Kupfer, Jack Newman, Tyler Newman, Quinn McGinley and Kieran Sheridan but none found the net. Rounding out the team were Ryan Bostick, Alec Graham, Andrew Radbel, Peter St. John, Hank Algert, Lachlan Montgomery, Henry Prentice, Hunter Price, Eric Roosendahl.and Brendan Sanderson. It was a remarkable season nonetheless for St. Matthew’s under co-coaches Rob Risley and Gerardo Martinez.
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