Last minute: Cyrus Shafie’s penalty kick in stoppage time of extra time lifts Mountain View to CCS D-I crown
SANTA CLARA — It had to be him.
Cyrus Shafie had a hat trick in the CCS semifinals on Tuesday, and longtime coach Jim McGuirk called him “the best I’ve coached” in his 38 years at Mountain View.
So it was only right that in the 100th minute of the Spartans’ CCS Division I championship match with top seed Alvarez, Shafie would be the one to draw the fateful penalty.
Coolly stepping off the ball to draw a foul just inside the edge of the 18-yard box, Shafie earned a penalty kick and stepped up to the spot in the final moments of extra time.
He took a couple steps and buried the kick off the hands of Alvarez’s goalkeeper, giving Mountain View a 2-1 lead it would not relinquish.
Moments later, the final whistle sounded, and Mountain View had won the top-flight title for the first time in three years.
Like the 2023 team that won Mountain View its first CCS championship, the Spartans entered the Division I tournament as the No. 7 seed in the bracket.
They leave it the undisputed No. 1.
“I knew the clock had stopped. It was two minutes,” Shafie said. “So that means the game ends at any moment. Anything I’m looking for, it’s a goal or foul. And I saw the kid, he slid in. I decided not to touch the ball, so he hit me and it worked out perfectly.”
Shafie has been the talisman for Mountain View (18-3-2) dating back to last year, when his scoring was essential for a team that lost six players to club ball during the season.
With that group back in the fold, the St. Mary’s commit remained the Spartans’ go-to guy, and the no-brainer choice to take the penalty he drew.
“You want that guy who’s confident,” McGuirk said, “and I haven’t had a player more confident than Cyrus probably ever.”
Shafie was set up to go for the win by goalkeeper Aiden Tassa, who made a phenomenal save diving to his left on a volleyed close-range shot off a cross in the 94th minute.
Tassa’s denial gave Mountain View the freedom to go for the win without chasing the game. Penalty kicks were still a fallback option.
As it turned out, all it took was one.
“I still feel like I’m dreaming,” Shafie said, “but it’s amazing to see everyone, my parents, friends (celebrating). The whole team is such a good group. We love each other so much. It feels amazing. There’s no feeling like that.”
Almost two hours earlier, Mountain View struck early in the game when Nicholas Garzino put away a corner kick from Shafie that had bounced around and settled amid chaos inside the box, giving the Spartans a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute.
But Alvarez (22-1) quickly answered when Fernando Matias crossed a perfect ball to Omar Lopez, who headed it home in the 10th minute to equalize.
Both teams settled into a stalemate that occasionally flared up into a dangerous chance for either side. But it was easy to see that the game could be headed for extra time, much like the girls game did beforehand.
“After they scored, we settled in, made some passes,” McGuirk said. “I didn’t really think it was going to be a high-scoring game, even though it was 1-1 at that point. “I mean, our games are not high-scoring when we play well. Nico was hurt a lot of that second half, so he was at half speed.
“So I was hoping for a 2-1 win. I just didn’t think it was gonna happen this way.”
Before the final matchup was determined, McGuirk told the Bay Area News Group that his team was hoping to face Alvarez. The Spartans had lost to the Eagles in penalty kicks a year ago, ending their CCS run in the semifinals after Alvarez won the shootout 5-4.
So this wasn’t just another game. It was Mountain View’s chance to rewrite the narrative.
Mission accomplished.
“It wasn’t just a final for us,” Shafie said. “It was a revenge game. Nothing against them, they’re a great team, but it was a revenge game. We wanted to win it so bad, because they’re the team that took it away from us last year. That’s what we were looking for, and that is what happened.”
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