Cate Rams Advance to CIF Quarterfinals in Overtime Thriller

February 17, 2025

Golden Goal Lifts Cate to 2-1 Win Over Pasadena in CIF Division 1 Playoffs

The Cate Rams hosted the Pasadena HS Bulldogs in round 2 of the CIF SS Division 1 Playoffs Earlier today in front of a huge crowd of home supporters, on a sunny and beautiful evening on Meldman Field hosting .

From the moment the starting whistle blew both teams came out looking to get on the scoreboard first. Cate began to slowly take control of the match, passing, sharing the ball is our strength and we executed it beautifully for the majority of the game while the visiting bulldogs looked to counter attack. It was a back and forth game with both teams looking for the right moments to strike.

In the 36th minute of the game Pasadena sent a long ball into the 18 yard box that found the bulldogs attacker and converted it into a goal to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. It took the Rams just 1 minute to even the score sheet.  In the 37th minute, junior Kamil Abdul Nafeo launched and outswing cross from the left flank into the box, senior Nic Forry deflected it the ball landed at the feet of junior George Marin, he took two touches to shake off bulldog defenders in tight space then fired a shot to the right bottom corner of the net to tie the score, give the momentum back to your Rams, and make the score 1-1 at the half.

The second half was much of the same. At times it felt like a heavyweight fight with both fighters looking for the knockout punch. Both teams went back and forth, creating chances but neither team was unable to convert at the end of regulation so we headed to overtime. With two 10 minute overtimes and penalty kick looming, we were reminded by the officials that the “golden goal” rule was in effect. for those of you that aren’t familiar with it, it means that the moments anyone scores in overtime the game will automatically end. If the score remains deadlocked in OT then we’ll go into penalty kicks.

The first overtime was much of the same with neither team able to score. In the second overtime, it became evident that the visiting bulldogs were out of gas and were only going to defend hoping to take their chances in the PK shootout. With two minutes to go in OT, Marin settled a long pass inside the 18 yard box that landed in front of Abdul Nafeo, as he went for the ball a bulldog defender made contact with Nafeo and brought him down earning a potential winning penalty kick and sending the crowd into a frenzy. Marin stepped up to the spot, stuttered stepped and calmly deposited the game winning goal into the left lower corner of the goal to give us the 2-1 victory and punch our ticket to the quarter finals next Wednesday.

We cannot emphasize enough just how proud we are of the effort and resilience our team showed today. This was the first time in 16 games this season that we found ourselves behind in the scoreboard and the manner in which these young men kept their composure, regrouped, didn’t panic, and answered their goal in 1 minute is amazing. That’s what makes this team special. It was a giant team effort and we got several outstanding performances. Our backline continues to be our strength and keep us in games while our offense continues to convert and give us victories but in between those two are a talented trio of magical midfielders lead by the amazing, talented and gritty junior holding mid Dimash Anuarbek. He is a workhorse and he not only kept us together today, he also carried us when we needed to catch our breath.

Our next quarter final match will be on the road next Wednesday @ 3 pm. Our opponent will be determined on Monday when El Segundo faces Redondo Union. We will provide more details as they become available.