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Santa Ana Valley sweeps season series with Century
SANTA ANA – Century coach Bruce Silverman was out to teach his boys soccer team a lesson even if it cost the Centurions a shot at the Orange League championship.
Miss a practice. Sit on the bench for the entire game. No exceptions no matter what the statistics.
Danny Gonzales and Rodrigo Orozco, the Centurions’ two leading scorers, decided to skip a training session this week, Silverman said, so when undefeated and league-leading Santa Ana Valley walked onto Century’s field on Friday, Gonzales and Orozco could be nothing more than spectators.
A huge blow for the Centurions no doubt, considering Gonzales scored a goal against Valley earlier this month.
And No. 5 Century sure could have used another one – or two – from him on Friday as Jose Montes de Oca and Armando Flores both scored second half goals to help No. 10 Santa Ana Valley edge rival Century, 2-1.
This was the Centurions’ second loss of the week, all but ending any chance that the Centurions (10-6-3, 3-3) had of winning the Orange League championship. Anaheim shut out Century, 2-0, on Wednesday. Santa Ana Valley (13-4-2, 6-0) is in first place, two games ahead of second-pace Katella (9-4-1, 4-2). Century is in third.
“This is one of life’s lessons,” Silverman said. “Maybe our chances of league are pretty much gone, but when we are a full squad we are just as good if not better than them (Valley).”
Due to scheduling conflicts with work or disciplinary action, Silverman has only had his entire team together a couple of times this season. He had a full squad in the semifinals of the North Orange County Classic, and that day, the Centurions handed Servite, currently ranked No. 1 in Division 1, its first loss of the season. After that, Century was ranked No. 24 in the nation by ESPN Rise.
“Qualifying for CIF is our goal now, and we should be able to do that if these guys take it to heart,” Silverman said. “I was really proud of them today considering what we had on the field.”
Some of Century’s starters had only played a half hour of soccer total through the first five Orange League games, but in the 13th minute, Centurions took a 1-0 lead when Ronaldo Pineda blasted a hard low shot past Valley’s goal keeper Dennis Hernandez.
Century controlled the midfield in the first half, and made it hard for the Falcons to maintain possession. And in the 30th minute, Pablo Bertin stole the ball, and dribbled into the final third for Century where he unleashed a shot that missed the goal by a matter of inches.
“The connections weren’t there. Our passes looked like we were giving it right to the Century guys,” Santa Ana Valley coach Jose Sanchez said. “The first half was really bad. I told them, ‘You have the ball and give it right back to them … you can’t do that.’ But we had a better second half.”
There’s no doubt about that. Playing with a strong tail wind for the final 40 minutes of the game, Santa Ana Valley outshot Century, 8-2.
And in the 55th minute, Flores faked out a Century defender, came into the box on a breakaway and took a shot to the right when Century’s keeper Johnny Garcia was leaning to the left to even the score, 1-1.
Montes de Oca knocked in the game-winner 20 minutes later. He almost had two goals on Friday, but Garcia slid in front of Montes de Oca’s point-blank shot in the 46th minute and Bruno Reyes was there for Century to clear the rebound.
“Our league is really tough, so it is hard to go 6-0. I think when we play well, we are a pretty good team,” Sanchez said. “On the field we are still trying to work on a few things. But when we play well, we are tough to beat.”
