Garcia Ends Up in Right Place at Right Time for Orange

Orange sophomore forward Alex Garcia had been quiet for most of the playoffs and for 70 minutes of Friday’s Southern Section Division II championship game against Compton Dominguez.

But Garcia awoke and roused his listless team from slumber when he controlled a long ball and beat Dominguez goaltender Armando Victoria with a left-footed crossing shot that found the right corner of the net.

Garcia’s goal stood and Orange had its first boys’ soccer title in school history with a 1-0 victory over Dominguez in front of about 1,200 at Cerritos Gahr High. Afterward, an unidentified Dominguez player took out his frustration on Garcia by sucker-punching him in the mouth during post-game handshakes.

“He looked at me as I was shaking his hand and then he punched me,” said Garcia, whose fat lip swelled by the minute.

But the pain subsided as Garcia began to talk about his winning goal.

“I don’t know how I did it,” said Garcia, who scored 22 of his team-leading 24 goals in the regular season. “I just outran the guy and got it with my chest. He came out on me and I got it by him.”

Said Orange Coach Sal Anaya: “We practice crossing a lot. Alex came through for us.”

Anaya said he was beginning to wonder if anyone was going to step forward.

“We didn’t have any tempo in this game,” he said. “We were lacking something. They were quick in the middle and that messed us up. I thought we struggled the whole game.”

Orange forward Victor Diaz said the absence of sweeper Danny Califf also disrupted the Panthers’ attack. Califf was given two yellow cards in the semifinals and could not play in the final. Midfielder Stephen Gonzalez was switched to sweeper for the first half, but by the second half he was back in the midfield.

“Danny was the key for us,” Diaz said. “Having Stephen back left our offense in the back.”

Orange only got off four shots in the first half and none were close.

“No one came out ready,” Diaz said. “I know we were ready, but we sure didn’t show it.”

Dominguez (16-3-1) had its best opportunity to score with nine minutes left in the half. Forward Luis Gonzalez found himself directly in front of Orange goalkeeper Aldo Zuniga, but his left-footed shot from five feet was caught by Zuniga.

“It’s timing,” Anaya said. ‘Aldo never gave up and never committed. If he’d have moved one way, he would have had the goal.”

Dominguez forward Carlos Corrillo had another opportunity to beat Zuniga midway through the second half, but Zuniga came out and cut off the angle and knocked Corrillo’s shot away. Twenty minutes later, Zuniga had his 14th shutout of the season and Orange (18-3-6) had a section title.

Gonzalez said he never would have predicted it early in the season after Orange lost three of its first four games.

“I looked at one of my teammates and I thought, ‘I don’t think we’re going anyplace,’ ” Gonzalez said. “But we stuck together and showed a lot of heart and won it together.”

Anaya said the incident after the game was unfortunate, but he did not want to blow it out of proportion.

“I understand their frustration,” he said. “I do not want to take any action. We won already.”

Assistant section commissioner Karen Hellyer said she will let Dominguez decide what action should be taken against the player who hit Garcia.