Fountain Valley’s Jake Arko didn’t think he had much of a chance to slip the ball past Newport Harbor’s goal keeper.
But there was less than a minute remaining in the second overtime period, and a loose ball was sitting in front of him in the box, so even if the odds didn’t seem to be in his favor, the senior defender had to give it a shot.
“I just jumped up and did my best to put it in,” Arko said
He hardly had a chance to see the result before his teammates surrounded him, celebrating a 2-1 victory against visiting Newport Harbor in the Sunset League opener for both teams Wednesday.
“That was the best moment of my life so far,” Arko said. “We give it our heart. We might not be the strongest or the fastest, but we have got the heart. We are going to go all the way.”
The No. 10 Barons (6-3-3, 1-0) have matched the number of victories they had in the Sunset League last season, their only triumph in 10 matches coming in the season finale against Marina.
“This is a great feeling becasue we haven’t always been fortunate in these situations,” Fountain Valley coach Jason Smith said. “Our guys battled. Our thing was to play 80 minutes strong, and at the end of that we will get a result. Today, we had to go 100 minutes strong. Our guys never gave up.”
In the 37th minute, Fountain Valley took a 1-0 lead when Larry Turner redirected a pass from Jake Shubin to score his 11th goal.
“Yeah, it’s disappointing (to lose in the last seconds of the game),” Newport Harbor coach Juan Mares said. “Our forwards have to wake up and start scoring. When our defender is the one that scores, and they can’t do anything, it is frustrating.”
Marlon Nava tied the score, 1-1, in the 68th minute, drilling a 25-yard free kick around Fountain Valley’s wall and inside the near post.
Before that, Newport Harbor (6-5-3, 0-1) watched a Hugo Enriquez shot sail inches wide of the post and a half-volley by Jose Garfias fly just over the crossbar.
“We had our chances. We just needed a little more composure up front,” Mares said.
In other nonleague boys soccer:
El Modena 3, Tustin 0: Brian Camey finished with a goal and an assist for the host Vanguards (5-1-1).
Godinez 1, Loara 0: Jose Macias finished scored a goal and Raul Moreno added three saves to lead the host Grizzlies (6-1).
Century 2, Santiago 0: Amirgy Pineda and Brian Rojas both scored for the visiting Centurions.
Contact the writer: ddottore@ocregister.com
