Men’s soccer: Lions take care of business

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - Someone forgot to tell Vanguard University freshman

Esaul Mendoza that the final regular season men’s soccer home contest is

supposed to highlight the seniors.

Mendoza, a standout scorer for Estancia High’s CIF Southern Section

Division IV championship squad a year ago, put together a first-half hat

trick on Tuesday, leading the Lions past visiting Fresno Pacific, 5-3, to

secure second place in the Golden State Athletic Conference.

With the win, the Lions (10-4-1, 7-1-1 in GSAC), ranked 15th by the

NAIA, will advance to the first round of the Region 2 Playoffs, set to

begin Nov. 1. Where and when they play depends on how the Lions’ numbers

add up in the ever-confusing Longo rating system.

“It’s too confusing to even try to explain,” assistant coach Fred Goff

said.

One thing that was easy to figure out early in Tuesday’s matchup with

the Sunbirds was that Mendoza was going to be a factor.

Already leading 1-0 on a goal by Devin Adams, Mendoza took a pass from

senior Diego Goni and broke free from the flat-footed Sunbird defense,

sneaking a shot into the lower-left corner of the goal in the ninth

minute.

“He works hard for his shots,” Coach Dave McLeish said. “He’s only a

freshman now, but he’ll be way ahead of his time when he is a senior.”

Joshua LeRoy deflected a free kick into the goal for Fresno Pacific

(8-10, 5-4) which cut the lead to 2-1.

LeRoy nearly tied the contest two minutes later, but Lions goalkeeper

Mathew Resor stepped in front of the point-blank shot and kept it out of

the goal. Resor finished with 10 saves.

At the 28th minute Andres Morgante made a nice move in a crowd of

Sunbird defenders and fed a soft pass to a breaking Mendoza, who snuck a

shot past the goalie for a 3-1 Lions’ advantage.

Mendoza’s final goal came off an assist from Jesse Barnett, his

seventh goal of the season.

Capping the scoring, rather fittingly, was senior Diego Goni, who

placed a penalty kick into the back of the goal in the 75th minute for

his team-leading 13th goal of the year.

Fresno Pacific’s Edgardo Contreras scored two goals in the second

half, extending his GSAC-leading total to 24.