Castro Leads Splash Past Detroit

The Splash is unbeaten.

It has the Continental Indoor Soccer League’s most potent offense and its most stingy defense.

It has won almost as many games in the season’s first two weeks as the franchise won all last season.

There were plenty of smiles in the Splash locker room following its 10-3 victory Wednesday over Detroit (0-4) in front of 3,235 at The Pond of Anaheim.

The league’s most improved team matched Dallas with its fifth victory without a loss, getting three goals from Rod Castro and two apiece from Dale Ervine and Ralph Black.

The Splash won only six games last year as Los Angeles United.

“That was a whole other team,” Black said.

And this team had the good fortune to play four of its first five games at home. Now comes the team’s first road swing--four games against Monterrey, Houston, San Jose and Portland--that will be its stiffest challenge to date.

The Splash (5-0) has a two-game lead in the Western Division over second-place San Diego and Portland (both 3-2), the final opponent on the upcoming trip.

“We’ve got a nice cushion,” Castro said. “The pressure isn’t on us to win every single one of those games. It’s easier to play without the pressure.

“I go back to last year with the United when we were always losing. We were always putting pressure on ourselves to win.”

Ervine, who also had two assists and took over the league lead with his 11th goal, said the early going has gone well.

“We’re getting away with things we won’t get away with against more experienced teams,” he said.

But Coach George Fernandez had an answer for that.

“I believe you make your own luck,” he said. “If you work hard and try your best, good things will happen, both individually and team wise. So far, we’ve worked hard on defense and capitalized on offense.”

Opponents have averaged only four goals, and the Splash has averaged 9.8--both lead the league.

And the team is approaching the season with serious championship hopes.

“That has been told to the players since Day 1,” Ervine said. “You have to win on the road. We must let teams know that we’re going to give the same effort as we give in this arena.”

As it did Sunday, when it took a four-goal lead, blew it, and then won in a shootout against Detroit, the Splash took another big lead. It scored the game’s first four goals and led, 5-1, at halftime.

Among the goal scorers were Castro and Ervine, who have scored in each of the Splash’s five games. Sam George, Armando Valdivia and Paul Ratcliffe also scored.

“We’ve got the head start,” Fernandez said. “No doubt, we’ll get better.”