Edson Torres could see the shot coming and didn’t have time to think about the pain that might be involved in his plan. The Anaheim junior defender just knew he had to stop the shot.
So he dove and turned the ball away with the side of his face. His actions denied Manuel Acosta a goal – this time.
Acosta was able to score his county-leading 19th goal in the 45th minute for sixth-ranked Magnolia, but Torres’ decision to take one for the team helped preserve a 2-1 triumph for host Anaheim in an Orange League boys soccer game Wednesday.
“I knew I had to stop him some way, and my specialty is getting down on the ground.” Torres said. “I had to stop him from getting any shot on goal. I would do anything to stop him from scoring a goal.”
Torres had the difficult task of marking Acosta for most of the game. It wasn’t until five minutes into the second half that Magnolia’s speedy midfielder put his first shot on target. It came off a free kick, and brought the Sentinels (10-3-2, 2-1-0) to within a goal of Anaheim, 2-1.
“We knew we had to get up on them and have them come from behind,” Anaheim coach Joe Chavez said. “You are not going to stop that kid (Acosta). You are going to slow him down for a run or two. We could only hope to score more than he does.”
Thanks to first-half goals from Raul Villanueva and David Emmanuel the Colonists (10-3-2, 1-1-1) were able to do just that.
“Today we came out flat. We just didn’t play the way that we have been playing,” Magnolia coach Jose De La Cruz said.
In other boys soccer:
No. 9 Sunny Hills 3, La Habra 1: Gilberto Sotelo scored two goals to lead the visiting Lancers (12-2-2, 3-0-0) to a Freeway League victory.
No. 2 San Clemente 1, No. 8 Mission Viejo 1: Alex Drabkin scored off an assist from Kyle Rincon for the host Tritons (12-3-3, 2-0-1) in the South Coast League match. Ivan Zambrano scored for the Diablos (0-0-2 in league).
No. 4 Aliso Niguel 2, Laguna Hills 1: Ryan Nyberg scored two goals for the host Wolverines (9-1-3, 2-0-2) in a Sea View League match. Justin Lee and Andrew Pascal provided the assists.
No. 1 Servite 3, JSerra 0: Roman Manning, Elijah Barajas and Garrett Amador scored for the host Friars (14-2, 4-0) in the Trinity League match.
Contact the writer: ddottore@ocregister.com
