Boys’ Soccer: Own goal lifts Edison
The last time Jason Smith’s Fountain Valley High team played a boys’ soccer match at rival Edison, he ended up reaching a coaching milestone.
He earned his 200th career win on the final day of Sunset League play last season.
“I know they haven’t forgotten that,” Smith said of the Chargers.
The Chargers still remember how that 2-1 setback in overtime cost them a league title.
Two matches into league this season, Edison stayed in first place by edging the Barons, 1-0, on Friday.
The difference was an own goal in the 54th minute, and it was enough to allow the Chargers to improve to 2-0 in league.
Edison (12-2-1 overall) received a break after Zac Ingalls’ shot toward the goal deflected off Fountain Valley defender Ali Shah’s head, sneaking just underneath the crossbar.
“I was proud of the way the guys played today, and I think we were unlucky giving up an own goal,” Smith said. “But I think from a technical standpoint, we just need to be a little better in the final third. We created enough chances against them, but our last pass let us down.”
Fountain Valley faced two of the league’s past three champions this week, pulling out a 2-0 upset of Los Alamitos, ranked No. 8 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll, at home on Wednesday, before falling on the road two days later to the No. 10 Chargers.
The shutout marked Edison’s ninth on the season. Goalkeeper Mitchell Wilson made fives saves.
“They work extremely hard and make it very difficult,” Edison Coach Charlie Breneman said of the Barons. “The game was kind of a classic Sunset League game, where it’s not always the prettiest, it’s not always fun to watch and fun to be a part of, but it’s exciting.”
Things also got a little testy in the first 13 minutes. Fountain Valley’s Joey Nguyen and Emanuel Tobon each received a yellow card.
Smith moved sophomore striker Jackson Ouellette to left back because he said he did not want to risk Nguyen picking up a second yellow and having to play a man down. The defense performed well without Nguyen, as it slowed down Dominic Bair, Edison’s leading scorer with 10 goals.
Fountain Valley marked Bair with defender Matt Faris. He and keeper Slater Kucera kept the Barons in it, stopping 10 shots.
Kucera denied Ingalls’ shot from the right side in the ninth minute, as well as Sam Kemper’s direct free kick from outside the top of the box in the 11th minute. Jack Morrell had a chance from inside the box in the 36th minute, as did Bair in the 66th minute and Dustin Voorhees in the 67th minute, only to have Kucera turn them away.
“I think he made two or three [saves] that probably any other keeper in the league probably wouldn’t have got to,” Breneman said of Kucera, a senior. “He did well.”
The only ball Kucera failed to get to was the one his defender headed into the back of the net. Smith, who is in his 19th season in charge of the Barons, just shook his head when it happened.
While the first week of league ended with a loss for Fountain Valley, Smith said he was happy with how the Barons performed against Los Alamitos and Edison.
“Traditionally the top two teams in our league,” Smith said of the Griffins and Chargers. “To go 1-1 [against them], I’ll take that.”
