The Mira Costa boys soccer team quest to repeat as CIF-Southern Section Division 1 champions came to an end Tuesday.

The second-seeded Mustangs (15-2-4) never seemed to get on track on the offensive end and JSerra took advantage of its two chances and prevailed 2-0 in the semifinals.

JSerra will host Trinity League rival Servite in the finals Saturday.

“Credit to them,” Mira Costa coach Al Brown said. “Second balls were a big part of this game. It was kind of 50-50 on the first balls, but they won a lot of the second balls.

“I told our boys they’re (JSerra) going to score one at some point because they have quality up top. I thought if we still play our game, we should have an advantage going the other way.”

The Lions (17-3-1) didn’t score that first goal until the 61st minute when Sean McTague converted a penalty kick.

Mira Costa’s Kyle Stepczyk went for a sliding tackle on an JSerra attacker and the official pointed the penalty spot.

“I was the same distance away as the ref,” Brown said of the call.

From there, the Mustangs were in chase mode, but were unable to sync together any attack through the midfield.

“A lot of our speed was cut down on the outside when Mateo (Cervantes) couldn’t go,” Brown said. “We’re trying to play our game more, but they have holes in the wings and we just couldn’t get it going on the wings as we wanted to …We didn’t get as many crosses. We talked about playing quickly, trying to get the ball up to challenge …we felt like our offense could be better than their defense if we got it up there.”

Late in the game, with the Mustangs in full chase mode, McTague put the game away with his second goal, sending the Lions to the finals.

“It was an incredible semifinal,” JSerra coach Erik Kirsch said. “Physical, both teams were good. It came down to who makes the first mistake. They were very compact, hard-working team, that’s why they were champions last year.”

The Lions opened the game with an early chance as Nicco Rudisill’s header off of a corner kick came close to rolling inside the far post.

The game went into halftime scoreless.

“We knew they were going to be more direct,” Kirsch said of Mira Costa. “Very, very powerful, so we had to absorb and then we waited for our moment and we kept calm and I’m glad our guys did what they did.”

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The loss was just the second of the season for the Mustangs. The will await Sunday’s CIF SoCal Regional announcement to see if their season will continue.

“You have a target on your back when you win,” Brown said. “A target on your back for 17-18 games it’s tough because every team is coming to try to give your their best.

“We withstood a lot of injuries, I think our season is a lot different if some of our better players weren’t over there on crutches …it was a lot of next-man up mentality which is tough to do, we maintained as long as we could. We still have a chance at the regionals, I’m hopeful we get in there and try to avenge this and show out a little bit there.”