ORANGE LEAGUE SOCCER ROUNDUP : Falcons Awaken Late, but Avenge Loss To Orange

A loss earlier this season to Orange High apparently wasn’t enough to excite Santa Ana Valley in the teams’ rematch Friday.

It took a goal by Orange midway through the first half to get Santa Ana Valley serious about the battle between Century League boys’ soccer powers. Once into the game, Santa Ana Valley had little trouble disposing of Orange in a 3-1 victory.

With the victory, Santa Ana Valley--ranked fourth in the county--raised its record to 15-2, 3-0 in the Century League. Seventh-ranked Orange, which defeated Santa Ana Valley in a tournament this season, fell to 9-6-4, 1-3.

“Because we lost to Orange, we were nervous. So what we did was come out and play defense,” Santa Ana Valley Coach Adnan Bayati said. “Once they scored, we got going.”

After Orange opened the scoring on a goal by Jamie Gonzalez, Santa Ana Valley came back five minutes later on a goal by Oscar Lara. Then in the second half, Santa Ana Valley got goals from defender Rafael Reynosa and Carlos Vergara.

On both second-half goals, there seemed to be some miscommunication between Orange’s defenders and goalkeeper Aaron Tavernier.

“A few lapses here and there,” Orange Coach Eddie Carrillo said. “That’s how our season has gone.”

With defending champion El Modena and Foothill playing good soccer, Bayati called Friday’s victory just a step toward the Century League title. But it was much more for Vergara.

“It was revenge,” said Vergara. “We had to win. We knew we could beat Orange.”

In other Century League games:

Canyon 4, Villa Park 4--Jeff Szekeres’ direct kick with about a minute remaining in the game tied the score for Villa Park (3-8-2, 0-3-1). Villa Park led 3-1 at the half, but Canyon (10-4-4, 1-1-1) scored three consecutive second-half goals, two by Steve Maynard and one by Brent Nogle.

Chris Miller scored two goals for the Spartans.

El Modena 3, Foothill 0--Filberto Maldonado scored two goals for El Modena (6-3, 3-1).