The River Valley High boys soccer team lay motionless for what seemed like minutes following Thursday night’s stunning 1-0 loss at home to No. 5 Pioneer (Woodland) in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III boys soccer semifinals at River Valley High School.
Perhaps the top-seed Falcons were still in disbelief at what had just transpired following 79-plus minutes of scoreless soccer.
One kick changed that – a 40 yard boot from Pioneer’s Gabriel Sandoval found its way over the outstretched arms of River Valley goalkeeper Marcus Cruz and into the back of the net for the game-winner.
River Valley was deflated, as evidenced by almost every player immediately hitting the gray turf in southwest Yuba City flat as a pancake.
The Falcons (21-2-5) managed to pick themselves up for the ensuing kickoff and one final desperation shot at the Pioneer goalkeeper before the final whistle officially sent the Patriots (18-2-4) off to the SJS D-III final Saturday at Cosumnes River College against Valley (Sacramento)
“That’s the way sports goes,” RV head coach Kevin Moore said.
It was Pioneer’s first win over RV since Oct. 8, 2012 – coincidentally the last time RV had made the section final.
The game had been over for minutes; the crowd at River Valley had started packing up for the Thursday night drive home, yet members of the RV team still lay flat on the turf.
They care; they wanted this; they couldn’t believe it was over.
“Right now it hurts everyone – it hurts us,” RV senior top scorer Miguel Ortiz said. “It’s going to affect us for a little bit … but we comfort each other; we’re family; and we are going to get stronger and work harder.”
Ortiz’ final prep game was a loss – a bitter pill to swallow after all he and the team accomplished under Moore: a school record in wins (21); first league title in over a decade; and a complete bounceback from a dead last finish two seasons ago.
“It’s a privilege to be coached by Kevin,” Ortiz said.
So what happened in that final minute?
Moore tried to gather the strength to sum up the details:
“All night long with those free kicks they’d float them up directly at our keeper and they’d crash,” Moore said. “Our keeper got every one of them and misjudged this one – went over his head. It’s interesting because last year in the quarterfinals against Roseville it was almost a carbon copy – same thing happened with our keeper; he just misjudged it … it was almost surreal.”
A goalkeeper is the last line of defense, and the one with the most pressure pressing down upon them, especially in a scoreless battle with a trip to a first championship in 14 years at stake.
Cruz is hurting right now, but his team has his back and always will. The all-league midfielder turned goalkeeper this year was phenomenal for RV in 2025-26, winning 20 games in goal with a goals against average of 0.515 leading into the D-III semifinals. Cruz collected 33 saves, while relinquishing 13 goals in over 2,000 minutes played in 26 contests.
“We wouldn’t be here without him,” Moore said. “This year we didn’t have a goalkeeper and he stepped up and did a phenomenal job all season … He had never played there in his life.”
The second-year head coach said while he is proud of everyone for what took place at River Valley the last two seasons, he knows there is more to come in the future.
“We want to win a (section),” he said. “ Last year was my first year in charge and we won the league; 21 wins – school record – but we fell short of the goal we are trying to achieve.”
As for Ortiz, he’ll continue to mentor the young crew coming up, while transitioning to college soccer in the fall. He hopes for Cosumnes River College; American River College or perhaps Folsom Lake next year.
Julian Carbajal, a freshman, junior varsity call-up, spoke highly of each of the seniors at the end of RV’s turnaround season.
“A lot more wins,” Carbajal said. “Last year we made it to the quarters; this year we made it to the semis.”
Pioneer will take on No. 2 Valley (Sacramento) at 11 a.m. Saturday for the D-III crown at Cosumnes River College.