Whittier reaps in giving

Bryce Alderton

Something needed to give when two undefeated teams, who had each

raced past their first two Daily Pilot Cup opponents, met to decide

the pool A winner in the boys third- and fourth-grade Silver division

Friday at the Farm Sports Complex.

St. Joachim and Whittier had tallied eight and nine goals,

respectively, in their prior two tournament games. St. Joachim hadn’t

been scored upon.

Until Friday.

Whittier reaped the benefits of sharing. Four Whittier players

scored goals, the result of patience and sharp passing, to power the

team into the quarterfinals with a 7-1 victory.

Whittier will face a wild-card team at 11:30 a.m. today at Farm

field No. 3.

Marco Ibarra brought his Pilot Cup scoring total this season to

eight with a hat trick while front-line mate Henri Ramirez tallied

two goals, also bringing his tournament total to eight. Jonathan

Arroyo and Christian Cruz each scored once to cap the scoring for

Whittier, which includes three second-graders among its 13 total

players.

Forward Ryan Harris scored St. Joachim’s one goal, cutting the

deficit to 3-1 in the 24th minute.

But Whittier’s speed was too much for St. Joachim to handle.

Whittier fired 20 shots.

“You can’t run and kick the ball, you have to pass,” St. Joachim

co-coach Adrian Buonanoce said. “The two other teams we beat, we were

faster than them. Against [Whittier], you have got to pass to beat

them and we didn’t do that.”

Whittier Coach Temoc Zamarripa credited his team’s unselfishness

and passing as the keys to victory.

Whittier players were patient. They often dribbled the ball at a

few steps before finding a teammate.

Ramirez was the spark in the middle. His nifty dribbling skills

created several scoring chances.

He stole the ball near the top of the 18-yard box, dribbled a few

steps and rolled his shot into the goal’s left side to give Whittier

a 1-0 lead nine minutes into the first 25-minute half.

Later in the half, Ramirez plowed through two defenders and fired,

but the shot sailed left.

St. Joachim defenders Will Crook, Daniel Schimoller and Albert

Lopez, along with goalkeeper Adam Josephson, were kept busy with

Whittier’s attacks, but blocked several advances. St. Joachim

midfielder Evan Monestine knocked the ball to the sideline, halting

an attacker in the first half, when Josephson tallied four of his

five saves.

Harris did it all to tally his goal. Off a throw-in, he stole the

ball near the sideline, crossed midfield and zoomed along the

sideline. He cut in slightly and rifled in a shot into the center of

the net.

Whittier took a 3-1 lead into halftime and opened the second half

with three goals in a 10-minute span.

Ibarra scored the fourth goal in the 33rd minute and completed his

hat trick six minutes later, glancing a shot off the crossbar before

finding the inside of the net on a penalty shot. Ramirez drew his

second foul within the 18-yard box to set up Ibarra’s penalty kick.

Ramirez made it 6-1 in the 43rd minute when he stole a ball in the

St. Joachim zone, juked a defender, side-stepped to his left and

knocked the shot into the left side of the net.

Cruz lobbed an arching shot into the goal, from nearly 25 yards

out, to cap the scoring.

Chaz Beek, Peter Kwock and Harris sparked several St. Joachim

attacks while Michael Reo replaced Josephson in goal in the 39th

minute after Josephson went out with what appeared to be a jammed

finger.

Josephson’s fifth and final save was hard-earned. Whittier was on

a two-on-one break. Ramirez crossed to Arroyo, who fired a shot left,

but Josephson sprawled to make the save.

Reo finished with two saves.

Luis and Roberto Perdomo anchored Whittier’s defense and kept

several clearing attempts on St. Joachim’s side.

St. Joachim kept the same lineup, but moved its defenders and

midfielders forward in attempt to create scoring chances in the

second half.

“We had no midfield in the first half, but in the second half we

got better,” Buonanoce said.

Whittier runs only through third grade. Most of Whittier’s players

will likely attend Rea beginning in fourth grade. The Sharks have won

four straight boys fifth- and sixth-grade titles.

“It’s an exciting future for Rea,” Zamarripa said.

The same could be said for Whittier, which faces its future today.