Daily Pilot Cup: Rea opens with dominating win over Sonora

There was a unique matchup Wednesday in the boys’ fifth- and sixth-grade Gold Division at the Daily Pilot Cup.

The matchup wasn’t against the teams — Costa Mesa Rea Elementary A and Costa Mesa Sonora A — on the field at the Jack R. Hammett Sports Complex, but along the sidelines with the coaches. Both were making their coaching debut in the youth soccer tournament.

Rea won 5-1, as coach Pablo Arriaga took the decision against Sonora coach Sharon Aguilar. Both coaches are former players in the Pilot Cup, and both are former champions.

Arriaga was on the Rea boys’ fifth- and sixth-grade team that won the Gold Division in 2009 and 2010. Arriaga had a hat trick in the 2010 final, an 8-0 win over Costa Mesa Wilson.

Arriaga went on to play soccer at Mater Dei High. He just finished his sophomore year at Vanguard University.

Aguilar played for Sonora and her girls’ fifth-grade team, which won the Silver Division in 2011.

“That was a lot of fun,” said Aguilar, who is a senior at Costa Mesa High and graduates in June.

Arriaga’s younger brother is Omar, a fifth-grader on the Costa Mesa Whittier A team. Omar Arriaga played in Whittier’s 2-0 opening-round loss to Newport Beach Mariners A on Tuesday.

“I’m hoping Whittier bounces back the rest of the tournament and we will get to play them in the semifinals, or hopefully, the finals,” Pablo Arriaga said. “It would be nice to keep it all in the family.”

Rea put itself in position to reach the semifinals. Rea is moving on to Saturday’s quarterfinals.

The Sharks had a bit too much offense on the field against Sonora. They took a 1-0 lead with five minutes left to play in the first half. Noe Avalos placed a corner kick to Ivan Cervantes in the middle, and Cervantes booted the goal high over the goalkeeper’s head.

The Sharks increased the lead to 2-0 two minutes into the second half on a goal by Thomas Guadarrama before Sonora was able to crack the scoring column.

Rea then closed out the game with three more goals, including the final one on an unusual play with the help of keeper Joshua Huerta.

A free kick was awarded to Rea in its own territory, and the 5-foot-8 Huerta, the tallest player on the field, booted the ball downfield directly at the Sonora keeper. The ball bounced off the keeper’s chest, but Avalos was right there to put the rebound into the net.

Huerta was credited with four saves against the Eagles, who never gave up and pressed the attack but continually came up short.

Yonatan Rodriguez and Irvin Martinez scored Rea’s other goals.

Rea takes the field Thursday for its final pool-play game at 4:30 p.m. The Sharks will play Costa Mesa Kaiser A, which defeated Sonora 2-1 on Tuesday.

With two losses, Sonora will not advance to the quarterfinals. Only the top two teams in each pool qualify for the quarterfinals.

DAVE DANIEL is a contributor to Times Community News.