Santa Ana Stays Perfect, 4-0 : Boys’ soccer: Saints surprise even their coach by improving to 6-0 with victory over Edison.

Santa Ana Coach Manny Penaflor insists his team is young and not very deep, but he’s starting to realize there’s also some talent there. The second-ranked Saints remained undefeated with a 4-0 victory over Edison Friday.

“I never expected to be 6-0,” Penaflor said. “This is a surprise to us. I was just hoping to go .500 after six games. We only have five seniors and three of them start.”

Penaflor also has a couple of sophomores named Gonzalez who can play a little. Daniel Gonzalez scored Santa Ana’s first goal as he drove a ball between Edison goalkeeper Dave VanReusen’s legs. Mario Gonzalez scored the Saints’ second goal seven minutes into the second half on a 40-yard drive that went through VanReusen’s hands.

“These kids are young, but they’ve played soccer all their lives,” Penaflor said. “We’re trying to get them to play together.”

Penaflor said he’s also trying to keep them eligible and healthy.

“We don’t have a lot of depth so it’s important to keep everyone playing,” he said. “My daughter’s a nutritionist and we’re keeping them on a low-fat diet with a lot of pasta. They’re used to eating a lot of junk food and that gets them sick. Now they’re eating things they’re not used to like bananas and pasta.”

Edison (1-4-2) was no match for Santa Ana’s youth and quickness. The Chargers only managed three shots on goal to Santa Ana’s 10. Todd Marcus, Edison’s high-scoring forward, was coming off a foot injury and he was understandably rusty.

Junior Juan Reyes scored Santa Ana’s third goal and junior reserve Alberto Gonzalez scored the Saints’ fourth goal on another shot that deflected off VanReusen’s hands.