Most Viewed Stories
Defense comes through for Santa Ana
SANTA ANA – Santa Ana’s weakness has now become one of its strengths, and it helped produce the game-winning goal in Wednesday's Golden West League boys soccer game.
In the offseason, Santa Ana coach Joe Penaflor moved some of his forwards and midfielders over to defense, and the transition wasn’t all that smooth. At times, the Saints lacked organization and mistakes were often made.
That, though, appears to be all in the past.
“We have really tightened up, and that feeds everything for us,” Penaflor said. “When we are winning the ball, we are winning it up top and we don’t have very far to go (to the goal).”
That’s exactly what happened in the 11th minute Wednesday as Christian Duarte stole the ball just shy of midfield and sprinted alone down the right side of the field and fired a cross to Ivan Orozco who was standing right on the penalty spot. With one touch, Orozco gave the No. 4 Saints the lead, one which they would never give up as they beat Loara, 4-0.
Through six Golden West League games, the Saints (13-1-3, 5-0-1) have only given up two goals – one to Loara (8-3-1, 3-2-1) in the league opener earlier this month and another to Westminster last week. During that span, Santa Ana has outscored its opponents, 23-2, giving it a 3.8 goals per game average.
“The real unsung heroes for us are Duarte and Robert Gonzalez our two center mids,” Penaflor said. “They not only distribute the ball well, they are stealing balls and getting the guys going.”
It was Luis Leon, though, who stalled what was possibly Loara’s best chance to score.
It happened in the 49th minute when Diar Acuna made it to the top the box, but just as he was getting ready to take a shot at the Saints’ goal, Leon got a toe on the ball, and knocked it away. Four minutes later, Acuna had one more chance to score, but this shot was from father out, and it sailed over the crossbar.
Shots were something the Saxons desperately lacked on Wednesday. In the first half they were outshot, 8-2, by the Saints, and those two shots that Loara had came just seconds before halftime.
By that time, though, the game was all but over as the Saints held a 3-0 lead. Freshman forward Ivan Canales scored in the 17th minute, and Canales followed with his second goal of the game eight minutes later.
Leon fired in a free kick in the second half to set the final margin for the Saints.
“These guys have worked really hard this offseason, and it’s starting to pay off right now. They have been committed since day one, and it all seems be coming together,” Penaflor said. “They guys like each other. They see this as a team game. They don’t think about who is getting all of the notoriety. They are happy for each other’s success.
"They want to make that extra touch and help the other guy score, and that is giving us so many opportunities.”
