Boys’ Soccer: Eagles defeat Sailors, 2-0
COSTA MESA — On the visiting sideline at Estancia High, the Newport Harbor boys’ soccer team gathered underneath a canopy. The Sailors came prepared for a downpour Wednesday night.
The showers never came. What the Sailors were in store for was a scoring drought.
No team this season has scored on the Eagles, who shut out the Sailors, 2-0, at Jim Scott Stadium.
The Eagles extended their streak of holding the opposition scoreless to five matches. Estancia (2-0-3) hasn’t scored much during the stretch. One goal is all the team produced before its nonleague contest against Newport Harbor (3-2-2).
On their best two scoring chances against the Sailors, the Eagles found the back of the net. Kevin Pizarro scored in the 22nd minute and Alex Esquivel in the 51st minute.
“This is our first complete game where we played pretty solid the entire 80 minutes,” Estancia Coach Robert Castellano said. “What we lack in technique and skill, we make up for it in heart and discipline. They’re a very good group of kids, probably the most unselfish group I’ve had. They have this will that I have never seen in a team.
“They’re very young, so they don’t know any better. They don’t know that they’re not supposed to be doing so well so soon.”
One team the Eagles wanted to perform against was Newport Harbor. They failed to knock off the Sailors in the past three seasons.
They finally pulled it off, giving Castellano his first victory against the Sailors in his four seasons in charge of his alma mater.
Last year, Newport Harbor was the team that ended the Eagles’ undefeated start to the season. The Sailors weren’t about to stand in the way of Estancia’s unbeaten start to this season.
Midway through the first half, the Eagles earned a corner kick, setting up the first goal. Anthony Pastrana took the kick, sending the ball toward the middle of the box. Unable to clear the ball inside the six, the Sailors watched as Pizarro got his foot on the loose ball and then beat the keeper.
The goal was just the Eagles’ second of the season. Excited for another opportunity at a goal, Pizarro got a little too close to the keeper later in the half. He ran into Osiel Porcayo atop the box and received a yellow card.
Eleven minutes into the second half, the Eagles attacked, without getting close to Porcayo. From 34 yards out, Esquivel blasted a shot to put Estancia ahead, 2-0.
“They capitalized on our mistakes,” Newport Harbor Coach Juan Mares said. “We had some players out of position and [we] gave them an open [shot at a] goal.
“I know this is always a very spirited game and they wanted it a little bit more than we did.”
The effort resulted in the Sailors’ third match in which they didn’t score.
Newport Harbor has managed to register one goal in its last three matches. Things won’t get any easier for the Sailors on Friday at 5 p.m., when they play host to University, ranked No. 4 in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 poll. University (3-2-1) has held four teams scoreless this season.
Against Estancia, the Sailors didn’t challenge keepers Enrique Salazar and Danny Guerrero.
The seniors combined to make just three saves. The defense, led by Cristian Montillo, the team’s lone returning starter, and Christian Monroy, Marco Pineda and Carlos Herrera, slowed down Newport Harbor.
“We stress defense,” said Castellano, whose team plays at Huntington Beach (3-0-1) on Friday at 5 p.m. “We’re having trouble scoring goals, but they’re a very fun team to coach.”
Twitter: @DCPenaloza