Boys soccer: Eagles play the field

Steve Virgen

COSTA MESA - There were plenty of oohs and ahs heard when the

Estancia High boys soccer team held its coming-out party while hosting

the Newport Harbor Sailors in an early season nonleague matchup

Wednesday.

The Eagles dazzled their home crowd with fancy dribbling and team

chemistry to grab a 1-0 win. Estancia also contained Newport phenom Tyson

Wahl and his Sailors, using superior endurance on its large home field to

dominate possession.

Sophomore Noe Rodriguez scored on a penalty kick for the Eagles (1-1),

after junior Nikolai Doudtchenko drew a foul in the box on a breakaway in

the 15th minute.

“We got the junk out of our system,” said Estancia Coach Steve

Crenshaw, whose Eagles fell, 4-2, Monday to Aliso Niguel. “We started

playing something that resembled soccer. We still have a long ways to go.

But (Wednesday) there was a lot more excitement and a lot more

communication between the players.”

The game featured playoff-type intensity and physical play, yet both

coaches agreed their teams have much room for improvement. The physical

display resulted in a yellow card assessed to a player from each team and

a red card dished out to a player from each team.

“This was a good test for us,” said first-year Newport coach Kevin

Esparza, who coached against Crenshaw in club soccer earlier in their

careers. “This is a big field, a lot of space to cover. It’s also a bit

of a hostile environment because of the crowd. That will be good for us

down the road.”

“In my mind, we’re the better team,” Esparza continued. “Steve might

not like that. (The Sailors) played through some questionable calls from

the referees. We would have some good chances there if they would have

made different decisions. The boys played through that and kept pushing,

which I was proud of.”

Fresh off their 5-2 win over Huntington Beach Tuesday, the Sailors

(1-1) used aggressive attacks to try to knock the Eagles off balance. But

Estancia would not back down.

Senior goalie Giovanni Gonzalez anchored the Eagles defense with eight

saves, while senior sweeper Rolando Vivar supported with spirited play.

Midway through the second half, Javier Millan, one of Estancia’s best

players, retaliated with a push after Newport senior Kevin Campos held

and tugged at Millan’s shirt. Both players were issued red-card ejections

and will have to miss their next game. Estancia plays at Servite, Friday

at 3 p.m.

The second half also featured the Eagles, as Crenshaw said, “coming

into their own,” and the Sailors combating with their captain, Wahl. The

Newport senior did not play for the school last year because he lived and

trained with the national team in Florida.