Eagles come up short
FULLERTON — Two of the better high school boys’ soccer programs in Orange County met on Wednesday. Estancia traveled to Sunny Hills for a nonleague match, and neither coach could remember the last time the two sides played against each other.
Both coaches have been involved with their programs for quite some time. Robert Castellano has been at Estancia for 20 seasons, as a player for four seasons, an assistant for 10 seasons, and he’s now in his sixth season as the head coach, while Mike Schade is in his 30th year at Sunny Hills.
Castellano and Schade have gotten to know each other in the past couple of seasons. Schade asked Castellano if his program wanted to co-host Sunny Hills’ popular North Orange County Classic last season. The Eagles won the Division 2 tournament in late December, while the Lancers reached the semifinals in Division 1.
Estancia’s first match since that tournament happened to come against Sunny Hills, which had played twice in the new year. The Lancers looked in better shape, controlling most of the action, yet they barely won, 2-1.
Sunny Hills (8-2-2), ranked No. 5 in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 poll, earned the result, even though the Eagles (8-2-1) made it a one-goal game late. Schade began to worry when Estancia’s Adan Rodriguez drew a penalty kick in the 77th minute, when Ulises Morales tripped him up inside the box. Schade had removed his starting goalkeeper, Daniel Martinez, who made five saves, 6 minutes earlier, and many of his starters.
The Lancers lost their shutout when Ricardo Gutierrez converted the PK. The Eagles had two more quality chances to even things up, but the Lancers held on.
“It’s a game of rhythm,” Schade said. “You love it when your team has the rhythm, and when your team doesn’t, you’re trying to get your players to learn how to fight and battle as hard as they can to get the rhythm back. We definitely lost the rhythm in the last five to eight minutes. The [penalty kick] call hurt us, but it was a turnover in the midfield that really caused it all.”
Sunny Hills managed to come up with its second straight 2-1 victory at home in three days. One player provided all the scoring for the Lancers. Archie Lopez scored in the 39th minute off a set piece, and in the 48th minute off a penalty kick.
The Eagles’ defense set up both chances, making ill-advised decisions. With 1 minute left in the first half, defender Andy Ceja fouled midfielder Gilberto Sotelo hard, earning Ceja a yellow card. With a set piece, the Lancers ran a play near the left side, and Aaron Gomez sent a cross to Lopez, who finished inside the box.
“The guy didn’t get a great cross in,” Castellano said, “and the ball still went through [on the ground]. I was more upset by that.”
Castellano grew more frustrated in the first 10 minutes in the second half. One of the referees called Estancia’s Miguel Espinoza for a handball inside the box, giving Sunny Hills a penalty kick. Lopez took it, and beat keeper Jesus Rodriguez with a shot to the right.
Two minutes later, Estancia’s best-scoring threat, Kevin Pizarro received a yellow card for getting into it with Sunny Hills’ Miguel Tapia. The yellow cards began to pile up for Estancia as Rodriguez picked one up in the 59th minute.
Both Pizarro and Rodriguez returned later, and they tried to rally the Eagles. Rodriguez was taken down in the box, allowing Gutierrez to cut the deficit to 2-1. With not much time left, Pizarro was fouled just outside the box, giving the Eagles one last chance to come away with a tie.
Ceja took the free kick, sending it on the ground, and the ball wound up near Moya’s feet. The junior struck the ball hard from up top, but it deflected off a defender and out of play. There would be no corner for the Eagles. They ran out of time.
“We have a lot of respect for them,” Schade said of the Eagles, who reached the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs last season. “I know their coach. I know how hard he works and how well he coaches. They’re a very organized program.”