Luis Mendoza

Patrick Laverty

Luis Mendoza will let his scoring speak for itself. With six goals in

the first two boys soccer games this season, the Estancia High senior

has already shown that.

But while he’s well on his way to surpassing his 17-goal total of a year ago, Mendoza is not worried about individual accomplishment.

His goal for this season is much more team-oriented.

“All I really want is to win CIF,” Mendoza said.

After watching his older brother, Esaul, lead the Eagles to a CIF

Southern Section Division IV title when he was a senior in 2000, Luis

wants to bring another championship to Estancia.

With the Eagles off to a 2-2-1 start against a difficult schedule,

Mendoza believes that championship is a real possibility.

“Yeah, [it’s possible],” Mendoza said. “This year’s team, they

have the heart to win it.”

Estancia Coach Steve Crenshaw said that Mendoza’s heart is more

into the game after experiencing what Crenshaw termed “burnout” when

the 5-foot-8, 130-pound striker entered high school.

“It’s nice to see him starting to enjoy soccer again,” Crenshaw

said. “He kind of got burned out for a while. He was a club player

for so long that he was kind of like, ‘Ah,’ about soccer when he got

to Estancia.”

Born in Mexico, Mendoza immigrated to the U.S. when he was 3 years

old.

With his older brother and his father as guiding forces, he began

playing soccer at 5, first in the Orange Youth Soccer League in Santa

Ana and two or three years later joining a club team.

Like Esaul, who scored 46 goals and earned CIF player of the year

honors as a senior at Estancia, Luis was a goal-scorer from the very

beginning of his soccer career.

“He can score from pretty much anywhere on the field,” Crenshaw

said.

But Mendoza, who said he has grown a lot since entering the ninth

grade, was too small to play varsity his freshman and sophomore

season. Even now, at 130 pounds, he is often giving up a lot of size

to opposing defenders, but it doesn’t seem to slow him down.

“Go in strong,” Mendoza said of his philosophy when attacking the

goal. Asked if his lack of size causes him any problems, he said,

“Not at all.”

That’s been evident early this season with six goals in the first

two games, including four in a 5-1 victory over traditional soccer

power Santa Margarita, and the game-winning assist in a 1-0 triumph

over Marina.

That assist came on a corner kick. Mendoza is the responsible for

the majority of the Eagles’ set pieces.

Capable of playing in the central midfield in addition to forward,

Mendoza, a fan of Real Madrid and Ronaldo who counts his quickness

and his footwork as his biggest assets, prefers playing up top.

“You get more opportunities to score,” Mendoza said.

Those opportunities have been taken advantage of early this season

and Mendoza’s ability to continue to do such will not only help him

exceed his goal total of a year ago, but also accomplish his main

goal, winning a CIF title.