The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Etiwanda gets another shutout in triumph over Jurupa Hills
The Etiwanda boys soccer team has been impenetrable this postseason.
Hugo Gonzalez-quintero scored the only goal in the 49th minute, and goalkeeper Max Guerrero secured another shutout as Etiwanda defeated Jurupa Hills 1-0 Tuesday night in a CIF Southern Section Division 4 quarterfinal round playoff match.
“It’s not my first goal and hopefully it won’t be my last,” Gonzalez-quintero said. “And our goalkeeper was absolutely excellent.”
Guerrero had five saves in the second half for Etiwanda (17-4-4 overall), which has posted three consecutive playoff shutouts and 15 total shutouts this season.
“We told them, ‘This is going to be a super-tight game,’” Etiwanda coach D.J. Vigil said. “It may not be the prettiest goal, but a hard, scrappy goal is in our DNA.”
The Eagles, the Baseline League champions, are riding
a 14-match unbeaten streak.
“That’s just who we are,” Vigil said. “We want to be a hard team to get in behind, especially in the playoffs.”
Marco Hernandez had three shots on goal in the second half but Jurupa Hills (9-7-7) failed to score during open play for a second straight match.
“I think Etiwanda did
a good job in shutting my front line up,” Jurupa Hills coach Gilberto Castillo said. “We weren’t able to penetrate through their back line.”
Spartans goalkeeper Diego Ramos, who totaled eight saves in a 0-0 (4-3 in PKS) win over California in the second round, was active from the opening whistle.
Etiwanda, which came in averaging just 1.3 goals per match, outshot Jurupa Hills 3-0 in the first half.
In the second half, Ramos made the initial save on a header from a corner kick but Rodriguez-quintero slotted the rebound into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
“We fought for it and I was only there to finish the play,” Rodriguez-quintero said.
Vigil added: “Getting that goal was absolutely huge for us.”
Jurupa Hills’ Jordan Pernillo was tackled in the box to earn a penalty kick for the Spartans in the 52nd minute, but Hernandez’s shot was stopped by Guerrero as the Spartans were kept off the scoreboard.
“When we got the PK and missed, it brought down our energy,” Castillo said.
Hernandez, Jurupa Hills’ leading scorer with nine goals this season, had a pair of blistered shots stopped over the final 20 minutes and Guerrero was and there to knock down a late header from Pernillo.