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Sonora wins La Habra city championship
LA HABRA – Finishing in the final third has been a problem all season for Sonora’s boys soccer team.
Coach Cory Witt blames the problem on watching too much TV. His players see the pros and then on game day, he said, they feel they have to get a breakaway and come up with a perfect SportsCenter-worthy shot.
When it doesn’t happen, the Raiders start to press and lose confidence.
“Sometimes it takes just a little bit of an effort,” he said. “Sometimes it’s just a toe poke.”
Or a deflection, which was the case Tuesday. In the final minute of the first 10-minute overtime period, Jose Melendez slammed a shot into a La Habra defender. The ball bounced off the defender's leg, over the Highlanders’ keeper and into the goal to give host Sonora a 1-0 victory and the La Habra city championship.
The Raiders (11-10-6, 4-4-1) needed to win to have any chance at getting one of the Freeway League’s three automatic berths into the CIF-SS playoffs. With the victory, Sonora is in fourth place, one point behind third-place Fullerton. The Raiders will close out the season at Buena Park on Thursday. The Highlanders (11-5-6, 6-2-1) are in first place.
“This was a do-or-die situation for us,” said Witt as he watched his players holding the trophy, a big gold boot, they received for beating their rivals in the city championship game. “We needed to prove that we could beat La Habra, and I think the CIF might let us in (even if Sonora finishes fourth). I believe that. We have shown that we have the character and ability to beat some of the best teams. We know we are good enough to get it done. We just have to believe it and come out and play.”
The Raiders had several chances to end the game in regulation, but their shots were either too high or too wide, sometimes by a matter of just a few inches.
None was closer than Javier Curiel’s shot in the 55th minute. Nacho Aviles got the ball to Curiel just outside the 6-yard box, and with his first touch, he redirected Aviles’ pass to the far post. The ball glanced off the outside of the post, keeping the game a scoreless tie.
The Highanders had some close calls too. Twice Joe Araiza, who has scored a team-leading four goals during Freeway League play, made a run deep into the left corner, once in the 18th minute and again in the 73rd. Luis Gonzalez stopped Araiza’s first shot to record one of his six saves for the Raiders. Araiza's second shot was just a bit outside of the far post.
“When you beat La Habra for the city championship it is a big deal,” Witt said. “They (the Sonora players) made it a point that they wanted to come out and own the city. They never gave up today. They didn’t make the little mistake, and that was the difference today.”
