Eagles belt Mesa, 6-1

Bryce Alderton

Where Costa Mesa High stumbled, host Estancia just kept on running

and blistered its way to a 6-1 win in a Golden West League and city

rivalry boys soccer game Wednesday.

The Eagles, 4-6-1, 1-3-1 in league, scored three goals in each

half, chasing down loose balls with efficiency and moving the ball up

field with precision. The win is Estancia’s first in three tries

against Costa Mesa dating to January 2001, a span of three games.

Mesa won both games last season.

Costa Mesa’s Luis Villa Nueva and David Barnett, whom Mustang

Coach Antonio Salinas moved up to midfield for the game, belted two

shots on Eagles’ goalkeeper Eddie Rubalcaba in the first five

minutes. Rubalcaba made the saves and the Mustangs managed just three

shots after that.

“The first five minutes changed the outcome of that game,” Salinas

said. “We gave (Estancia) the midfield and they took advantage of it.

Our biggest weakness was not having the proper conditioning to

complete the game. There’s a lot of training that we still need to

work on tactic-wise.”

As Salinas thought his team tired as the game wore on, Estancia

Coach Steve Crenshaw praised his squad’s aggressiveness for the

entire 80 minutes. Crenshaw said the Eagles have lacked the “killer

instinct” when they get ahead, but not Wednesday.

“We put one in the net fairly early and stayed after it,” Crenshaw

said. “In the last couple years we’ve lacked the desire to win. Three

years ago on our (CIF Southern Section Division IV) championship team

if we got ahead 3-0 we would go back and try to score another one.

It’s not time to argue but to relax and practice knocking the ball

around, knowing the other team is on its heels.”

Costa Mesa was on its heels following the Eagles’ first goal, but

still received strong defensive play from Barnett, Nelson Benavides

and Willmer Hernandez with offensive hustle coming from Villa Nueva

and Alfonso Pineda.

Six different Eagles scored single goals on 15 shots, nine in the

first half as Estancia built a 3-0 lead at the intermission.

Rodrigo Duarte, who scored the team’s sixth goal, kept the ball in

the Mesa zone following a save by Mustang goalkeeper Christian Lopez

and fed the ball to Ricardo Avila, who put the ball in the left side

of the net for a 1-0 Eagle lead 25 minutes into the contest.

A minute later Geo Macias booted a centering pass that Luis

Mendoza knocked down with his stomach causing a “thud.” Mendoza

promptly fired the ball from 10 yards out to give the hosts a 2-0

lead.

Duarte also assisted on Quiroga Campos’ goal, shot from 30 yards

out to give Estancia a 3-0 lead..

Mesa made it 3-1 in the eighth minute of the second half. Striker

Alfonso Pineda stole the ball from an Estancia defender but then

received the same treatment as the Mustang fell to the ground and

lost control. But Pineda showed determination and regained possession

after Mesa midfielders kept the ball in the zone and he sent a pass

from to midfielder Benjamin Elias, who scored from 25 yards.

Campos scored his second goal nine minutes later after passes from

Mendoza and Macias. Jason Cassidy also notched a goal to make it,

5-1, with 20 minutes remaining.

Salinas gave credit to Mendoza.

“Sometimes it takes just one person to motivate a team,” said

Salinas of Mendoza.

Elsewhere in high school boys soccer Wednesday:

Newport Harbor 1, Aliso Niguel 0 -- Joel Walker’s first-half goal

was all it took for the Sailors to improve to 4-2-1, 2-0 in the Sea

View League.

Sweeper Matt Tracy, fullbacks David Manchester and Jose Serpas,

and Spencer Link, Chase Kelly and Eric Nutter all proved instrumental

in the dominant victory, which was highighted by roughly 17-4 in

terms of shots on goal. Goaltender Mark Spears got the shutout.

Corona del Mar 3, Laguna Beach 2 -- The Sea Kings, who broke on

top with unassisted first-half goals by Grant Almquist and Julien

Cerutti, got the game-winner with some 20 minutes left on a header by

Dominic Rubino, who took a cross from Cerutti and headed the ball in

from the far post to snap a 2-2 standoff.

Jay Zimmerman was credited with eight saves as the Sea Kings

improved to 8-4-2, 1-0 in the Pacific Coast League.