Fountain Valley Stumbles Again on Esperanza’s Field

Fountain Valley hasn’t won on Esperanza’s field in four years. Aztec seniors David Munoz and Aaron Colacion helped make sure of that.

The 10th-ranked Aztecs defeated No. 3 Fountain Valley in overtime, 3-2, Wednesday in a Sunset League game.

“It’s never a pretty game on our field,” Colacion said. “It’s all torn up. You don’t get good bounces.”

Esperanza (13-5-1, 3-2) took a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute on a header by Munoz, off an assist by Steve Hively. Munoz, a center midfielder, leads the team with 13 goals and five assists.

Colacion, whose college choices include UC Irvine and UCLA, made it 2-0 10 minutes into the second half off an assist from Scott Mitchell. It was Mitchell’s first game back after sustaining a broken collarbone in the opener against Valencia. He received yellow cards in each half and was ejected.

Ryan Futagaki, who shared league MVP honors with Colacion last year, scored both Fountain Valley goals on penalty kicks in the second half. Both kicks skidded to the right of goalkeeper Nathan Fiske. The latter came with 3 1/2 minutes left in regulation.

Colacion, a teammate of Futagaki’s on the Olympic Development Program team, scored the winner with less than two minutes left in the first overtime. It was Colacion’s 11th goal of the season. Munoz, who is considering Biola and Chapman and was approached by Pacific Christian after the game, assisted on the goal.

It was the Aztecs’ second overtime victory in three games. They defeated Huntington Beach, 3-2, Jan. 16.

The victory was a boost for Esperanza, 2-2 in league before the game.

“We started off slow,” Munoz said. “We were hoping to be better than [2-2] at this point . . . Until this season, I hadn’t lost a game on this field.”

Fountain Valley, which was without injured starter Sean McFarland is 13-4-1, 4-1.