Boys’ soccer: Lucky 13 strikes for El Camino Real
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El Camino Real, seeded 19th, wanted an early lead so the Conquistadors could throw a defensive shell around explosive third-seeded South East in Tuesday’s City Section boys’ soccer second-round playoff match.
Coach David Hussey must love it when a plan comes together.
With about 10 minutes gone in the first half, sophomore forward Jose Velasquez sidestepped a defender, then scored his team-leading 11th goal from six yards. ECR (14-3-7) made it stand up and stunned the host Jaguars, 1-0.
‘I’d never seen South East play before. But I heard from other coaches in tournaments they were one of the best teams in the playoffs,’ Hussey said. ‘We knew they had a pretty good offense. I put it to our team that basically, it was our defense against their offense.’
When ECR sophomore goalie Keon Parsa didn’t frustrate South East (15-5-2) with a diving save in the second half, senior midfielder Carliano Varona constantly disrupted the Jaguars attack with deft steals, or by taking advantage of his 6-foot-2 height and going airborne to direct several balls out of harm’s way with his head.
‘Sometimes he’s out of control,’ Hussey said of Varona. ‘But today his out-of-controlness got him in the right places at the right time. He played great.’
-- Mike Terry