BOYS’ SOCCER ROUNDUP : It Isn’t Pretty, but Santa Margarita Dumps Fountain Valley

Santa Margarita didn’t exactly wear out Fountain Valley goalkeeper Scott Hainlen, but it did enough damage to squeak out an “ugly” 2-1 victory Wednesday at Fountain Valley in a nonleague game between the county’s top two ranked teams.

The second-ranked Eagles had only five shots on goal to 12 by top-ranked Fountain Valley, but two of their shots found the net.

“There was no skill to this game at all,” Santa Margarita Coach Curt Bauer said. “One team would kick the ball and then the other team would kick it. There was no continuity. It was ugly. But it’s nice to know we can win ugly as well as win pretty.”

Ugly or not, Santa Margarita improved to 8-0-1. Fountain Valley dropped to 5-1 and allowed its first two goals of the season.

Santa Margarita’s Seth George, who led the county in goals last season with 24, scored six minutes into the game on an assist from Brian Piesner. Midfielder Miguel Godoy scored 20 minutes later when his shot caromed off a Fountain Valley player, who was trying to clear the ball.

From there, Fountain Valley got most of the scoring opportunities and controlled the action. But the Barons found the goal only once and that came on Joey Bove’s penalty kick with 10 minutes left in the first half.

The Barons got off seven shots on goal in the second half, but Eagle keeper Ben Froehlich handled all of them easily. Meanwhile, Santa Margarita was able to get off only two shots on goal in the second half.

Bauer said he was not pleased with his team’s collapse.

“All year long we’ve gone up on teams, 2-0, and then just quit,” Bauer said. “Fortunately, all we did was give up a penalty kick and that came off a questionable call.”

Fountain Valley Coach Kevin Smith said difference was Santa Margarita’s “big-game experience.”

“This is the first real team we’ve played in six games,” Smith said. “They’ve been playing in all these tournaments and they were a little more prepared than we were for the big-game atmosphere.”

Still, Smith said he was pleased that his team was able to frustrate George and contain Piesner, a junior transfer from Texas.

“They’ve got weapons all over the place,” Smith said. “I coach these kids in the summer so I knew what to expect.”