Costa Mesa youth team falls short, on PKs

IRVINE — The game was representative of the season, except for the ending.

All year long Barcelona Coach Jose Mendez said his team fought to get where it was at, winning along the way. In a scoreless game the Costa Mesa 14-and-under boys AYSO team pelted the Orange County goal, attempting to break open the scoreless game Monday at Harvard Park.

Nothing got through. After overtime and into penalty kicks the teams continued the sea-saw battle. Orange County sunk its sixth penalty kick, advancing the team to the Area Q final. Costa Mesa lost, 3-2, on penalty kicks.

“Their practice and their big heart is what got them where they are,” Mendez said. “I got a team, nobody thought they’d go this far, but I guess we proved them wrong.”

As the teams lined up at midfield prior to the penalty kicks, left defender Carlos Ramirez said Barcelona contemplated what would come next.

“We were thinking who’s going to go first,” Ramirez said. “Where are we going to kick it? We told the goalie to look at the ball, see it as it’s coming to you.”

That is just what goalie Benjamin Arriaza did, making two diving saves for Barcelona giving the team at one point a 2-1 advantage heading into the final penalty kick.

Oscar Barranon and left forward Carlos Arriaza scored Barcelona’s two penalty kicks. Carlos Arriaza’s goal put Barcelona ahead 2-1.

Defenders Glenn Childers, Carlos Suavez, Alex Santoyo and Joseph Reuintree kept the Orange County offense under control to secure the shut out.

“It’s because we worked together and we worked really hard at it,” Reuintree said, adding that they have a great coach.

Jose Mendez, Josh Ternstram and Hans Anderle helped on offense.

Ramirez said his team had to adapt as the challenges grew stiffer the further they went in the playoffs.

“In the beginning we came out good,” Ramirez said. “We were scoring 7-2, 7-5 victories. The more we got into the difficult areas the harder it got. We played our best.”

On offense Barranon provided Costa Mesa with speed down the sideline, delivering centering passes to attacking forwards. In the second quarter Mendez and Carlos Arriaza fired back-to-back shots, but weren’t able to break through. At the end of the quarter Ternstram blasted a shot from 25 yards out but the goalie made a save.

In overtime Carlos Arriaza had a shot off a corner kick and one in the goal box but could not get it past the goalkeeper, sending the game to penalty kicks.