Fountain Valley Soccer Tournament : Fountain Valley Defense Shuts Down Newport Harbor for 3-0 Victory

Tony Meza and Steve Wright each scored first-half goals as Fountain Valley High School defeated Newport Harbor, 3-0, in the quarterfinals of the Fountain Valley boys’ soccer tournament Wednesday.

Fountain Valley (12-3), which staved off a series of scoring opportunities by Newport Harbor (4-2-2) in the first half, got its third goal with 10 minutes left in the game when Sean Muth took a pass from Todd Jackson and fired a shot past goalie Josh Klein.

Fountain Valley goalie Joe Penaflor, who was protected by an aggressive, tight-guarding defense, had 6 saves.

“We tired out at the end,” said Newport Harbor Coach Roger Leighton, whose team defeated Capistrano Valley, 2-1, Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals. “Fountain Valley plays a good midfield game and a strong defense, and they make the transition quickly from defense to offense.”

Fountain Valley--which beat La Quinta, 3-0, earlier Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals--established its defensive dominance with 5 minutes gone in the game when several defenders held off a scoring threat in front of Penaflor. Seconds later, Meza gave Fountain Valley a 1-0 lead with a low-angle shot past Klein.

Fountain Valley, which was denied another goal when Tony Christ’s head shot was saved by Klein with 15 minutes gone in the contest, got its second goal with 10 minutes left in the period when Wright took a pass from Meza and scored on a low line-drive kick.

Fountain Valley will play Santa Ana at 9 a.m. today in the semifinals.

In other quarterfinal matches:

Santa Ana 3, Long Beach Wilson 0--Marco Silva scored in the first half and Eddie Buenrostro and Rafael Serrano got goals in the second half to lead the Saints (9-0-3). Santa Ana beat Edison earlier Wednesday, 1-0. Wilson had defeated Canyon, 1-0, to reach the quarterfinals.

Mission Viejo 4, Marina 0--Joe-Max Moore scored 3 goals and Jeff Jurgemeyer added another to lead the Diablos (11-0). Marina, which defeated Thousand Oaks, 3-1, earlier Wednesday, is 10-3-3. Mission Viejo beat Saddleback, 3-2, earlier Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals.

Palos Verdes 2, El Toro 0--Paul Kaemmer scored both goals for Palos Verdes (12-0), which beat Mater Dei, 2-0, earlier Wednesday. El Toro had advanced by defeating St. John Bosco, 2-1.

Mission Viejo will play Palos Verdes in a semifinal at 9 a.m. today, with the championship game at 1:30 p.m. The losers of the two semifinal games will compete for third place at 12:30 p.m. today.