Every set piece in boys high school soccer is dangerous, Laguna Hills coach Alex Filipovic said, and when a team has a player that can throw the ball halfway across the field as the Hawks do that creates even more peril for the opposition in the final third.
In the 11th minute, Santa Margarita had no defense for Joey Barry’s long throw which made it all the way to the far post for the host Hawks. Jacob Hamilton tried to punch the ball away to safety for Laguna Hills, but he landed only a glacing blow.
And the ball landed in front of Willy Ospina, who chipped it in to give Laguna Hills a lead that it never gave up in Friday’s 2-1 nonleague victory.
“It is not the prettiest way to score the goal but it is effective,” Filipovic said. “He can throw it in like a corner, and then everybody runs after the ball and things happen.”
Both of the Hawks’ goals came off a set piece, and Barry was a key player in both. In the 18th minute, his corner kick set up Nick Delgado’s goal to put the Hawks (7-0-2) up 2-0.
Scoring chances were rare for Santa Margarita (0-4-2) on Friday, but with three minutes to go, they struck when the Hawks were unprepared, using a quick restart to get the ball to Jonathan Stoop, who brought the Eagles to within a goal of Laguna Hills.
“We didn’t reshape correctly, and there were some gaps in our middle and they went through,” Filipovic said. “But other than that … we have a decent little team.”
In other boys soccer:
No. 1 Servite 3, Corona 0: Noah Ferrel finished with a goal and an assist to lead the host Friars (5-1-2) in the nonleague match.
No. 3 Godinez 3, University 1: Bryan Ibarra scored twice in the host Grizzlies’ win, giving him 12 goals. Jose Macias also scored for the Grizzles (7-1-2).
Contact the writer: ddottore@ocregister.com
