BOYS’ SOCCER ROUNDUP : Esperanza, Los Alamitos Slosh to a Tie

It may have looked like a fun-filled water park, but in the midst of the churning rain that fell on the Esperanza soccer field, two teams had plenty at stake.

Neither helped itself Wednesday as the ninth-ranked Aztecs tied Los Alamitos, 1-1, which put the Griffins further out of playoff contention and dropped Esperanza into third place in the Sunset League race.

In its driest spots, the water was ankle deep on the field and when the ball wasn’t skipping like a stone, it was floating like a buoy.

The defenders didn’t have much luck fielding long kicks from the other direction because many times the ball would skip past them with an unpredictable bounce.

The front-line players’ speed and dribbling skills were also affected by the deep water that would swallow up the ball and leave the players’ momentum carrying them on by.

“Being a passing team, these conditions didn’t favor our style,” Los Alamitos Coach Mauricio Ingrassia said.

The Griffins (10-5-4, 2-3-1) took a 1-0 lead on a penalty kick in the opening minutes of the game.

Jason Wolfe was called for pulling down John Ross in front of the goal and Ross then beat goalkeeper Thomas LaRochelle up high on the ensuing kick.

Esperanza (9-4-4, 4-1-1), which won its first four league games, pulled even later in the first half, when defender Nick Artukovic got a tricky bounce and then failed to clear the ball from the Los Alamitos end of the field.

Brandon Clewett was in position to collect the ball and he sent an arcing pass into the middle of the penalty box where Marc Rodeick had a step on the nearest Griffin defender.

Rodeick waited for goalkeeper Jon Wertenbroek to commit and the junior midfielder then beat Wertenbroek to his left.

Esperanza was the better team for most of the second half, but a red card was called on Wolfe for striking a Los Alamitos player and that left the Aztecs a man short for the rest of the game.

The Griffins almost took advantage of the extra player in the second overtime, but LaRochelle twice made big saves to snuff out scrambles in front of the net.

“Those two chances at the end were crucial,” Ingrassia said. “We kicked it right at him. We just couldn’t finish.”

With the tie, the Aztecs fall a half-game behind Edison and Fountain Valley, which are tied for the league lead with 4-1 records.