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The Fusion's Julian Alvarez, left, and Orange County's Kyle Schmid battle for the ball during Sunday night's game at Buena High.

The Ventura County Fusion's Sisyphean second season took a vital tumble in its home finale on Sunday night at Buena High.

Presented with a golden opportunity to enter the last week of the Premier Development League season in first place, the Fusion wasted a goalful of scoring chances in a painful 1-0 loss to the Orange County Blue Star.

"The boys will look at the situation and rue the missed chances they had tonight," said head coach Graham Smith. "If you can't put chances away, you can't win things."

After Fresno fell out of first place in the Southwestern Division with a 4-1 loss to San Fernando Valley on Saturday, Ventura County found itself a win away from the top spot Sunday.

Instead, the Fusion (7-4-3) will enter the decisive weekend of play in a third-place tie on 24 points with rival San Fernando Valley Quakes, who it meets Thursday night in a vital match at Los Angeles Pierce College.

The top two teams in the division face the top two teams in the Northwest Division later this month in the PDL regional playoffs.

"We did this to ourselves," said goalkeeper Logan Frank. "We only have ourselves to blame."

Oscar Aguero's sloppy 11th-minute opener held up for the game-winning goal for Orange County (5-8-3), which entered play in eighth place.

"I let up a soft goal and we had about 20 opportunities to score," said Frank.

Blue Star entered the weekend in ninth place in the 10-team league, yet defeated three of the top six teams on consecutive nights, including two of the top three, to finish its season by climbing into a sixth-place tie.

In the first match of the doubleheader, the Ventura County Fusion women's team finished its home slate with a 2-0 loss to the Real Colorado Cougars, dropping to 1-9-1 in its inaugural season on goals by Lindsay Ratterman and Megan Flanagan.

"You always have high hopes for a first season," said assistant general manager Brian Nowakowski. "But you take everything in stride.

"We knew this was a building year."

By taking 22 of a possible 27 points over nine matches, the Fusion men were building up to a big finish in it second campaign.

But the Fusion were let down by its finishing touches in its final match at home.

Converted midfielder Lee Stevens, who had performed so well in his first two matches up front, missed several chances, including a 49th-minute penalty kick that Orange County goalkeeper Kris Minton saved by diving to his right.

"I hit the target, but he went the right way and got it," said Stevens. "It was just one of those days. I should have had about 10 (goals)."

Stevens wasn't the only culprit. The Fusion obviously missed the presence of its offensive maestro, midfielder Rodrigo Lopez, who was suspended after receiving his fourth yellow card of the season after being substituted in Friday's 4-0 win at Lancaster.

"If you don't punish people," said Smith, "you punish yourselves."

And the fans. Despite the midseason winning streak, the Fusion ended its home slate the same way they began it, by failing to score — and win — at home.