FULLERTON – The Sunny Hills boys soccer team was in trouble and Coach Mike Schade knew it.
The Lancers had just missed two of their first three penalty kicks after their CIF-SS Division 1 first-round match Monday with San Clemente ended in a scoreless tie.
The Tritons, on the other hand, were 3-for-3, so Schade pulled freshman goalkeeper Richard Orihuela aside and asked if it was time to make a change.
Orihuela, Schade said, told him he was good to go.
Schade said he was had some second thoughts because he has two other keepers on the roster that are good at stopping PKs, but he put Orihuela back on the field.
And he couldn’t have done any better, stopping two of the Tritons’ next three shots to help the Lancers edge San Clemente, 4-3, on PKs and move on to the a second-round matchup with Paramount on Wednesday.
“San Clemente is a great team. They are so well coached and their size and strength are so hard to deal with,” Schade said. “They were awesome. But Richard did a great job. He made more than a few good saves.”
None was better than the one he had in the sixth minute of the first 10-minute overtime period. He leaped high and batted away a Kaleb Shcirmacher shot that was headed to the upper right corner of the goal.
Sunny Hills (18-6-3) was fortunate to move on. San Clemente (11-7-6) dominated possession, took shot after shot at Orihuela, but defense is the hallmark of Schade’s teams, and the Lancers held on to post their 13th shutout of the season.
“But at Sunny Hills we are never satisfied,” Schade said. “We better fix some things before Wednesday. It is going to be a tough road.”
The reigning CIF-SS Division 2 champions made the move up to Division 1 this season, and on Wednesday the Lancers will face the 15th-ranked team in the state, Paramount. The game will be played at Paramount.
The Lancers have the talent to compete at this level, and it was Sunny Hills, which had the better chances to score in Monday’s match with the Tritons.
In the 12th minute, Herminio Padilla, who saw limited playing time because of a groin injury, found Randy Perez at the far side of the box and put the ball right on Perez’s foot. But Perez’s shot hit the left post.
Bronny Toledo and Diego Useda both had chances to score on breakaways at the end of a counter attack, but Cameron Dickie turned away each shot for the Tritons.
“A lot of kids stepped up today to and played great,” Schade said.
