HUNTINGTON BEACH – The Los Alamitos boys soccer team was in a tough spot heading its match against Edison on Wednesday.
A loss would eliminate the Griffins from contention for the Sunset League championship and hurt their chances of making it to the CIF-SS playoffs for the 12th year in a row.
But thanks to Aaron Abarca, the Griffins still have a chance to accomplish both goals. Abarca knocked in the winning goal on a counter attack in the 78th minute, giving No. 9 Los Alamitos to a 2-1 victory over the No. 8 Chargers at Edison High.
“This was a must-win game if we wanted to achieve our goals,” Los Alamitos coach Donovan Martinez said. “We showed some fight, grit and toughness when we needed to.”
The Griffins (11-6-4, 2-2-1) are in third place in league, behind Edison ( 14-4-0, 3-2-0) and first-place Newport Harbor (5-0-0 in league).
The Griffins took a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute. That goal also came on a counterattack. After the Griffins cleared an Edison corner kick to the top of the box, Luis Arrellano picked up the loose ball, sprinted down the field and fed the ball to James Tabares as he headed to the right corner. Tabares sent a cross to Alex van Steenbergen, who put the ball in the back of the net.
The attack by Edison was relentless and the Chargers spent the majority of the game camped in front of the Los Alamitos goal. But Edison didn’t score until the 80th minute, when Drew Brummett knocked in a free kick to make it 2-1.
“We dug in defensively. He (goalkeeper Kaden Falsken) made a couple good saves,” Martinez said. “They are a good team, and that is what good teams do – they come after you. They had a lot of opportunities. We were fortunate to get the win.”
In the Orange Coast League:
No. 1 Godinez 3, Saddleback 0: Bryan Ibarra scored his county-leading 17th goal to lead the visiting Grizzlies (13-0, 3-0).
Contact the writer: ddottore@scng.com
