SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS' SOCCER PLAYOFFS: T.O. IN OT FOR THE WIN TOPPLES RIVAL ROYAL IN DIV. II QUARTERFINALS.

Byline: Daily News

Jason Leopoldo refused to let his teammates down Friday.

The UCLA-bound senior scored twice and assisted on Jesse Hoehn's 109th-minute golden goal as host Thousand Oaks High defeated Marmonte League rival Royal of Simi Valley 3-2 in overtime in the Southern Section Div. II quarterfinals.

``This is what soccer is about: playing when everything is on the line,'' Leopoldo said. ``We played with a lot of heart. The win is great, but we're not happy. Not yet. We still have work to do.''

Thousand Oaks (14-9-1), the defending section champion, advances to Tuesday's semifinals against Martin Luther King of Riverside. A coin flip today will determine the site of the match. The Lancers opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Leopoldo found the net off an assist from Josh Underwood. Royal (18-7-2) answered just before halftime to tie the score.

Leopoldo struck again, on a set piece, midway through the second half. He ran over the motionless ball to create a diversion and open space, and Brian Siu put the ball in play. Underwood received the pass from Siu and redirected it toward Leopoldo, who buried a shot to the far post for a 2-1 lead.

``Jason is the marquee player on our team,'' Thousand Oaks coach Mark Tietjan said. ``He's the real deal.''

Royal, which was resilient throughout, scored in the waning moments of regulation to send the game into overtime; the teams played 20 minutes of scoreless soccer to force sudden death.

At that point, Leopoldo, often marked by two defenders, took over. He sent a well-placed cross to Hoehen, who outjumped the defense and headed in the winner to the near post, eliciting a wild celebration.

``Jesse crushed it. He absolutely killed it,'' Tietjan said. ``It was huge. A golden goal in a quarterfinal match. That's just big. The biggest goal in the history of our program.''

- Sean Ceglinsky

In other Div. II games:

--Loyola 2, Calabasas 0: Andreas Andrews scored in the 39th minute, Andrew Sanders added a goal in the 71st minute and Conor Harding and Tim Walter combined on the shutout as Loyola of Los Angeles (30-3-1) beat Calabasas (19-5-4) at East L.A. College.

The Cubs will face Temecula Valley (19-1-4) in Tuesday's semifinal.

--Temecula Valley 2, Westlake 1: Temecula Valley scored in the 29th minute and again early in the second half, holding off host Westlake to advance to the semifinals.

``They scored on fluke goals,'' Westlake coach Bill Propster said. ``Going down by two hurt us.''

Brian Jones scored on an assist from Spencer Harter in the 62nd minute to cut the deficit, and Westlake (20-4-3) was unable to capitalize on several strong scoring opportunities in the final 10 minutes.

DIV. V

--Paraclete 2, Los Amigos 0: Alex Flores scored both goals, in the 12th and 57th minutes, as Paraclete of Lancaster (16-5-4) defeated visiting Los Amigos of Fountain Valley (15-4-2) to reach the semifinals for the third consecutive season.

DIV. VI

--Mojave 4, Ontario Christian 1: Henry Garcia, J.P. Brandzig, Daniel Ashcraft and Randy Talpas scored goals for host Mojave (16-4-6) in a quarterfinal victory over fourth-seeded Ontario Christian (17-6).

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Photo:

Royal's Matt Smith (top) goes over Thousand Oaks' Jason Leopoldo to head the ball in Friday's game.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer