Retooling at Costa Mesa
Bryce Alderton
Youth doesn’t have to mean inexperience, especially in the Costa
Mesa High boys soccer team’s case.
The Mustangs, fresh off a second consecutive Pacific Coast League
title and a second straight CIF Southern Section Division IV
Quarterfinal appearance last season, return just three members from
last season’s team. But that doesn’t worry Coach Eugene Day, who
enters his third season as Mesa’s boys coach.
“The young players are not young players in terms of soccer; they
know the game,” said Day, who is currently serving a 40-day
suspension given by the school for violating CIF rule 24:2411. The
article prohibits a school athletic staff member from organizing,
sponsoring or coaching a soccer team outside the season of soccer
during the school year.
Day is the father of senior Sharon Day and freshman Jasmin Day,
who are on the girls soccer team, and play on the Gold Coast Extreme
Soccer Club, the club team Eugene coaches.
“Now I have a little more free time,” said Day jokingly.
Day loses 13 seniors from last year’s team, including All-CIF
Division IV first-team selection Eli Solis.
Mesa (0-3) figures to get much production from returning sophomore
striker Alfonso Pineda, an All-Pacific Coast League selection as a
freshman, who joins senior defender Christian Lopez and junior
defender David Barnett as the squad’s lone returners.
Four freshmen and four sophomores combine with five juniors and
six seniors to give the Mustangs depth at each class level.
“It’s almost like a rebuilding team,” Day said. “With a new
league, and a lot of people tell me it’s a weaker league, but we’re
still going to be playing soccer. The rivalries and intensity won’t
be there but we’re ready for anything.”
Costa Mesa, along with rival Estancia, competes in the Golden West
League this season. Day can rejoin the Mustangs no sooner than Jan.
22. Assistant Antonio Salinas takes over in the interim.
Like several teams, Mesa is using the preseason to work on ball
distribution and setting up shots.
High school soccer is a much faster-paced game than the club
level, Day contends.
“In high school, you get the ball to the top of the (18-yard box)
and let the shots fly,” Day said. “There’s no time for trickery. It’s
very fast-paced, kind of like English soccer. Guys get the ball in
front and cross it.”
So far, the shots haven’t found the net for Mesa, which has yet to
score a goal in its three losses, but Day believes that will turn
around.
Defense should be Mesa’s strong suit, he added.
Those set to solidify the back line include seniors Tyler Waldron,
Edgar Mendoza, Nelson Benavides, Lopez at both defense and
goalkeeper, with juniors Barnett and Bernabe Ortega, as well as
freshman Oscar Guzman. Sophomore Willmer Hernandez starts in goal,
where freshman Francisco Mendoza provides depth.
Mesa’s midfield will consist of seniors Alexander Mulhearn and
David Correa, as well as juniors Omar Ruiz, Benjamin Elias and Luis
Gonzales. Sophomores Luis Porcayo and Hernandez, as well as freshman
Gerardo Delgado round out the midfield.
The forwards include sophomore Luis Villa Nueva, Pineda, and
freshman Jordan Kalkie.
Villa Nueva and Pineda are Day’s two fastest players and will use
their speed to create scoring opportunities.
Day said improvement with each passing game and practice is the
goal, though he can’t oversee such development until serving his
suspension.
“I tell them to go out and play soccer and let the outcome show
itself,” he said.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.