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.