College Park clinches pool

Barry Faulkner

College Park Elementary school boys soccer coach Carlos Valdez said

the last two teams he has coached in the Daily Pilot Cup have

struggled to find success.

But Valdez’s latest edition of Cougars, competing this year in the

third- and fourth-grade Silver division, appear determined to make

the most of their opportunity to rise above the competition.

College Park was “dominated” in the first half of Thursday’s Pool

D contest with the Sonora B team, as the Eagles maintained possession

of the ball in their offensive zone for nearly all of the first

25-minute stanza.

But, taking advantage of a couple breakaways, College Park forged

a 2-0 halftime lead, en route to a 5-3 victory.

The win clinched the top spot in the three-school pool, propelling

College Park into Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Sonora was scheduled to have two teams in the tournament (an A

team and a B team), but fielded just one team of third graders. They

are, however, playing both teams’ schedules as one unit, which meant

playing back-to-back contests Thursday.

With just moments to rest after a 1-0 third-and-fourth-grade Gold

division loss to Lincoln on the very same Costa Mesa High field, the

Eagles took on a fresh College Park squad that had defeated the

Pomona B team, 6-1, in Tuesday’s pool-play opener.

But rather than relent to fatigue, Sonora seemed energized by its

double duty, which also allowed its players, who coach Esmie Wallace

said entered the tournament with little or no organized soccer

experience, to formulate more effective patterns of play.

The Eagles used their newfound confidence to cut the deficit to

2-1 early in the second half, as Marco Zalpa found the net.

But College Park also appeared to be growing more comfortable, and

the Cougars responded with three straight goals.

Luis Fuentes, who was literally leveled in an early collision,

taking a backward fall in which his head slammed onto the grass

field, shook off any effects the spill may have had to score both

College Park goals in the first half.

Fuentes broke with the ball from midfield, outran the chasing

defenders, and fired a shot into the upper portion of the net against

a goalie who never had a chance in the 19th minute.

Just moments later, Fuentes found himself on another breakaway.

This time, Sonora defenders chased him down, but he skillfully

redirected the ball to his right, allowing him to dodge the oncoming

defender. He then converted the open shot to help College Park

convert both of their scoring chances before intermission.

Erin Figueroa scored two second-half goals for College Park, which

also received one goal from Luis Martinez.

Figueroa’s second goal upped the College Park lead to 5-1.

Unfazed, however, Sonora tallied the final two goals, both by

Zalpa, who was joined by David Canales as consistent catalysts for

the Eagles.

“We always tell the kids we want to score first,” Valdez said.

“This is the first time in my three years coaching that we’ve gotten

past [pool play].”

Wallace, whose team wraps up pool play today at 4:45 p.m. against

Pomona A, was also upbeat when discussing her players’ performance.

“I think if we had more time, we would have come back,” Wallace

said. “I thought playing two games would tire the kids out, but they

seemed energized.”

Other standouts for College Park included Carlos Valdez, Elias

Orellana, Erick Bernal, Jonathan Lopez, Andy Dodier, Andreas Rosas

and Kevin Bernal.

College Park will play the winner of Pool E Saturday.