THE TIMES 1996 WINTER ALL-COUNTY TEAMS : Hard Work Is Responsible for Goalie Zuniga’s Success

ORANGE —  Aldo Zuniga didn’t expect to have a senior season that ended with him being named The Times Orange County boys’ soccer player of the year. He was just happy to become Orange’s starting goalkeeper after sharing the position for two years.

“I just love to play soccer,” Zuniga said. “That’s all I wanted to do is just play. Getting all of this is just extra. I never expected anything, but it’s a great way to go out.”

Eddie Carrillo, Zuniga’s former coach at Orange, didn’t expect much of Zuniga either when he brought him up to the varsity team as a sophomore. Zuniga played a few games that year and then split time last season with Neal Van Zuiden. Finally last summer, new Orange Coach Sal Anaya announced Zuniga had won the starting job. Van Zuiden decided not to play this year after Zuniga was named the starter.

Zuniga recorded a county-high 14 shutouts and almost single-handedly led Orange to its Southern Section Division II championship. In a quarterfinal overtime victory over Santa Barbara, Zuniga saved three penalty kicks under a darkened sky before about 500 fans at Orange High. His own penalty kick proved to be the difference in the victory.

“I was in a zone,” Zuniga said. “I knew I had to block everything else out and concentrate on the ball. It was dark, but I didn’t care.”

In the Division II final, Zuniga kept Orange in a scoreless tie by catching a shot over his shoulder at point-blank range in the first half. The Panthers went on to defeat Compton Dominguez, 1-0, to win the school’s first section championship in boys’ soccer.

Carrillo, now the coach at Trabuco Hills, said he couldn’t be happier for Zuniga.

“He was one of those self-made guys,” Carrillo said. “He just worked and worked. If you’d have told me two years ago that he’d be the player of the year, I wouldn’t have believed it. But he had the work ethic.

“He’s one of those kids I tell everybody about. You never know what can happen if you work hard.”

Zuniga was named the most valuable player in the Century League and the section’s Division II defensive player of the year.

But all the postseason recognition still hasn’t earned Zuniga a Division I college scholarship. He said he will probably play for Chapman University.

“Even if I don’t play Division I,” Zuniga said, “I’m satisfied with what I’ve done this year.”