Santa Margarita victory no big deal

IRVINE This was supposed to be the county match of the West Coast Classic.

Soccer coaches and fans were pumped when the schedule pitted third-ranked Santa Margarita against No. 6 Esperanza.

But the anticipation faded early in the tournament when news spread that the Aztecs were represented by their junior varsity team after the varsity squad pulled out because of a schedule conflict.

The varsity Aztecs team lost, 5-1, to No. 4 Los Alamitos in Wednesday’s league opener, also the first day of the WCC.

The Eagles clearly were not as excited for Thursday’s match, and it showed in a sluggish 2-0 victory over the lower-level Aztecs in the final day of pool play Thursday at Irvine Valley College.

Santa Margarita (7-1-3) is the lone county team in the semifinals and plays La Costa Canyon of San Diego on Friday at noon. Damien of La Verne and Canoga Park play in the other semifinal, also at noon on Friday.

Santa Margarita coach Curt Bauer was presented with the challenge of motivating his squad for Thursday's game.

“It’s a no-win situation for anybody,” Bauer said. “We knew we just had to win the game (to advance), but the guys didn’t get too motivated to play a JV team.

“This is a motivation factor, and that was the hardest part. Any time we scrimmage our own JV team, they beat us half the time because our guys are like, ‘Who cares?’ ”

Santa Margarita’s Mike Muñoz scored his eighth and ninth goals of the season. He scored on a header inside of 10 minutes of the first half, and on a soft touch from the 6-yard box at the 73rd minute.

Bauer was critical of his team’s performance, and he said consistency has been an issue this season.

“We have to get our game better,” he said. “It’s not smooth, but that’s what we get for not practicing the last few days. Our touch and our pass was awful, and our passing was terrible, and our decision making was terrible.”

Esperanza coach Vodak Hawkins said one of his players said the 2-0 loss felt great because the low-scoring affair came against a prominent team.

Also in the West Coast Classic:

St. Augustine of San Diego 1, No. 7 El Toro 0: The Chargers (10-4-3) allowed the lone goal in the last four minutes of the game and were eliminated.

In the Tournament of Champions:

No. 2 Saddleback 5, Lynwood 2: Jesus Salgado and Mauricio Gonzalez each scored two goals, and Beto Godinez scored one and assisted on three to lead the Roadrunners (11-1-1) into the semifinals at Millikan High of Long Beach.

Saddleback plays Millikan on Friday at noon in the finals. The Roadrunners recorded their seventh shutout of the season earlier in the day with a 4-0 victory over Lakewood.

Contact the writer: mmelendez@ocregister.com