COSTA MESA – On a night when Godinez’s star forward, Bryan Ibarra, was missing from the lineup, his understudy, Andy Sosa, stepped up and delivered the winning goal in the final minute of an Orange Coast League match Friday at Estancia High.
“I think it is great,” Godinez coach Ruben Fernandez said. “It shows we are about more than just one player scoring goals.”
Sosa collected a rebound in the box and fired a shot inside the far post to lift the visiting Grizzlies past Estancia, 2-1, in a matchup between two of the top-10 teams in the CIF-SS Division 4 poll.
“He (Sosa) hasn’t been getting a lot of playing time,” Fernandez said, “or as much as he would like because he plays behind Ibarra.”
Ibarra scored two goals for the No. 2 Grizzlies (10-1-4, 4-0-1) in a 3-0 victory against Costa Mesa on Wednesday, giving him 16 for the season. Fernandez said Ibarra didn’t play due to “personal reasons” on Friday.
“They are very deep,” Estancia coach Robert Castellano said. “But that last minute, they were a little hungrier than us to get the goal.”
Jose Macias set up the game winner, firing a shot at the near post that was turned away by Estancia goal keeper Yonathan Lopez, but he knocked the ball to Sosa.
Macias also scored for Godinez. His goal tied the score, 1-1, in the 49th minute.
At halftime, Fernandez said he warned the Grizzlies about a counterattack by the Eagles (9-4-3, 2-2-1).
“But I guess we must have lost our concentration,” Fernandez said.
After defending a Godinez corner kick in the 43rd minute, Estancia’s Kevin Pizzaro started a counterattack. He passed the ball to Salvador Escalante, who gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
Contact the writer: ddottore@ocregister.com
