The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Etiwanda teams have mixed results in regional openers
Girls put on offensive display; boys watch two-goal lead disappear in second half
It was set up to be a day for both Etiwanda soccer teams to make history.
But after the girls defeated El Camino Real convincingly, 6-2, the boys were stunned by three goals in the final 23 minutes and fell to Torres, 3-2, in a CIF State Socal regional doubleheader Tuesday evening at Etiwanda High School.
Both Etiwanda teams were seeded second in their regionals and were seeking their first state playoff victories, facing seventh-seeded teams from the L.A. City Section.
The girls team (21-4-1), which lost in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals Feb. 17, advanced in the Division II bracket and will host No. 3-seeed Mission Hills of the San Diego City Section in the regional semifinals today.
The boys team (19-5-4), which captured its first Southern Section title Saturday, missed out on a rematch with its championship game opponent, Lakewood, in the state Division IV regional semifinals.
After a slow first 10 minutes Tuesday, the offense for the Etiwanda girls woke up with Alondra Talamantes and Jonalynn Valles scoring about two minutes apart to give Etiwanda 2-0 lead in the 16th minute.
Then Natalie Beston, Alannah Gonzalez and Talamantes scored about six minutes apart to give the Eagles a 5-0 lead in the 34th minute.
“It was pretty sloppy,” girls coach Jason Montgomery said of the start Tuesday. “I didn’t expect it to be quite that chaotic or sloppy, but I knew there would be some rust for sure. It’s hard to tell on the videos (of El Camino Real) but I can still tell athleticism and what they’re going to try to do and what we’re going to try to do. I knew how we play and our athleticism would take the game over pretty quickly.”
After getting that 5-0 lead, Montgomery started substituting liberally. Felicity Garcia scored Etiwanda’s final goal in the first two minutes of the second half.
And Etiwanda was playing without its “most talented/most dangerous” player, sophomore Scottie Antonucci, who was with the U.S. National Team. But she is expected to be back for today’s match.
Despite the substitutions, Montgomery re-inserted Talamantes into the lineup late in the game in search of her third goal.
“She’s been in a little bit of a drought,” Montgomery said. “It was good to see her come out of it.”
Talamantes had several chances at more goals in the game, hitting the crossbar three times.
“It’s OK, because I put the ones I needed to in,” said Talamantes, a sophomore. “I think a lot of us were struggling with that chemistry (at the start). Once we figured it out, it was OK again.”
It was shaping up to be a sweep for Etiwanda when the boys jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Jacob White in the 28th minute and Hugo Gonzalez-quintero about 10 minutes into the second half.
But the game began to swing in Torres’ favor a few minutes later when the Eagles were called for a hand ball at the edge of the penalty area and Torres’ Joseph Contreras scored on the penalty kick in the 58th minute to cut the deficit to 2-1.
“In my personal opinion, and I think everyone’s opinion, I don’t think his (the Etiwanda player’s) hands were even up,” Eagles coach D.J. Vigil said. “It (ball) clearly hits him straight in the face. To go look at your AR (assistant referee) and have that potential discussion and then you deny that conversation, that’s a little frustrating, too.”
Torres, which really had no scoring chances to that point, suddenly showed life. The Toros tied the score on a goal by Jose Ramos in the 73rd minute, then got the game-winner in the 79th minute when Ariel Hernandez scored on a free kick from 18 yards out, just outside of the penalty area.
Vigil took blame for the loss. Kayden Montgomery and Chris Carrasco got yellow cards and Vigil kept them out of the game.
“I take fault (for the loss). It’s on me. I tried to make certain adjustments with the intention that we were already moving on,” Vigil said. “I wanted to make sure we had certain players not get into card trouble. To be fair, it’s still a knockout game and I should’ve went more with an aggressive approach like we did in the beginning.”