Boys soccer: Eagles benefit from a little ‘Esaul’

Joseph Boo

COSTA MESA - In the words of one Newport Harbor High fan, “Esaul is

nuts.”

Esaul Mendoza scored twice to break a 1-1 tie in Estancia’s 3-1 win over

Newport Harbor Wednesday in nonleague boys soccer. Along with two goals,

Mendoza also added bicycle kicks, headers and one celebratory act aimed

at Newport’s sideline.

“He had fun,” Estancia Coach Steve Crenshaw said.

Estancia (10-1-1), ranked No. 2 in CIF Southern Section Division IV,

needed the performance from Mendoza. Its leading scorer, Cesar Terrones,

did not play because of family reasons. Juan Zarate took Terrones’ place

in the forward spot.

“Being able to have two guys who can score takes the pressure off of one

of them,” Crenshaw said. “We knew Esaul would come through, just like

Cesar would’ve if the situation was reversed.”

But it took a while for Estancia to score. In fact, it took almost a

half. Newport (5-6-1) pressured Estancia zealously when the Eagles

controlled the ball, and Estancia’s offense sputtered. Inversely, this

produced scoring chances for the Sailors.

“That’s what we try to do,” Newport Harbor Coach Matt West said. “We

tried to jump out and take an early lead.”

“We’re a team that likes the short passes,” Crenshaw said. “We were

passing the ball up to the midfield and then we kicked it long toward the

goal. We played a lot better when we went away from that.”

While Newport had its chances, it could not score. Instead, Estancia took

the 1-0 lead in the final minute of the first half, when Martin Sanchez

caught up to a lead pass and scored.

Mendoza almost got the mother-of-all-highlight-film goal in the second

half. On a throw-in, he headed the ball up and bicycle kicked a hard shot

that hit the crossbar. Instead, Newport tied it in the second half when

Victor Castillo knocked in a cross pass from John Swigart.

That, unfortunately for Newport, woke Estancia up.

Mendoza gave Estancia the lead again with a goal from the left wing. His

second goal, late in the second half, put the game away. He almost added

his third goal on another bicycle kick, but that shot went wide.

“He’s an incredible player,” West said, “as complete a player I’ve seen

all year long.”

While it got the loss, Newport is the first team to score on Estancia in

nine games. The Eagles have given up a mere five goals this year, while

scoring 70.

“We played with a lot of heart and desire,” West said. “We went up

against a team with lots of skill and talent. At the end, desire couldn’t

overcome talent.”

West singled out the play of Castillo, Ryan Hernandez and Juan Gonzalez

for the Sailors.

“They played their hearts out,” he said.

Newport goalie Christian Peterson had 12 saves, while Estancia goalie

Hilario Arriaga had five.