Aggressive Defense Catches Estancia’s Foes Off Guard

Mater Dei Coach Martin Stringer was lucky. He saw Estancia in a scrimmage. Orange Lutheran, Aliso Niguel and Saddleback weren’t as fortunate. They found out in games the first week of the season.

“I told you they were good,” Stringer said after seeing that Estancia had destroyed 10th-ranked Saddleback, 7-0, on Monday.

How good? Last week, unranked Estancia blasted Orange Lutheran--the defending Southern Section Division V boys’ soccer champion, 6-0--then hammered a pretty fair Aliso Niguel team, 7-0. Mater Dei, ranked second in the county, was beaten 4-0 in a scrimmage.

That’s 24-0 in four games, including the scrimmage.

“They kind of remind you of Loyola Marymount’s basketball team,” Aliso Niguel Coach Ken Ezratty said. “They send everybody forward and play a high-pressure, high-risk brand of soccer. [Coach Steve Crenshaw] just kind of turns them loose. They leave themselves really vulnerable in the back. But right now, the pressure’s working.”

The biggest beneficiary has been Eagle midfielder Esual Mendoza, who already has 10 goals, including five against Aliso Niguel. Striker Cesar Terrones, who entered the season with 59 goals, has four in two games. Monday against Saddleback, stopper Omar Navarrate had a hat trick.

A defender scoring a hat trick?

“My philosophy is to attack with every player on the field,” Crenshaw said. “I feel the best defense is a good offense. We’ve got 10 guys out there who can score.”

And one goalkeeper who is very lonely.

“I’ve just been directing traffic and making sure the ball doesn’t land in our territory,” goalkeeper Hilario Arriaga said. “It’s been pretty easy.”

And the Eagles’ offensive explosion hasn’t been surprising, at least to Arriaga.

“The guys take shots on me every day in practice, so I know what they can do,” he said. “I always tell them that I wish they could do that in a game. Now they are.”

It’s not as if Estancia has never scored in bunches before or been successful. The Eagles scored 14 goals against La Quinta last season and have qualified for the playoffs in each of Crenshaw’s four years as coach, but they’ve never gone past the third round. Crenshaw said his veteran team has never played to its potential, until this season.

“I don’t know if they’ve ever questioned their ability,” Crenshaw said. “They know how talented they are. The question has always been, do they have enough guts?”

Crenshaw asked his team that question last season after a disappointing 1-0 loss to Servite in the first round of the Division III playoffs.

“We play a ball control, touch kind of game,” said Crenshaw, whose team hosts eighth-ranked Santa Ana today and plays at seventh-ranked El Toro Friday. “And when we’re flat, we’re real bad. That’s what happened against Servite. A lot of people thought we should have gone a long way. I told them they were capable of a lot more.”

For many of Estancia’s players, this is time to put up or shut up. Of the 11 starters, nine are seniors. Terrones, sweeper Jon Alderete and midfielder Irving Islas, who is being recruited by UC Irvine, are four-year starters.

Many of the seniors have been playing club soccer together since grade school. Crenshaw coached that club team before he took the Estancia job.

“I know these guys felt they were better than Laguna Beach both years Laguna Beach won the [Southern Section] title [in 1996 and ‘97],” Crenshaw said. “Last year, they thought they were better than Servite [which reached the semifinals]. I told them they’ve still got a chance to get one of their own.”

Arriaga, a senior, said he senses his teammates are playing with more of a purpose this year.

“Even if we’re winning 5-0, we still have to finish games,” he said. “We haven’t done that before. But we’re starting to realize that we have to play 90 minutes.”

And the rest of the county is starting to realize just how miserable those 90 minutes can be.

“Nobody’s taking them seriously,” Stringer said. “They’re in a perfect position. So they’re still sneaking up on people.”

Ezratty wonders how good the Eagles will be once the element of surprise is gone.

“I don’t think they’re seven goals better than us,” he said. “Our kids were just blown away by it all. I don’t know how they’ll be the second time around in league or when teams start scouting them. I know this, if I had Estancia on my schedule, I’d go see them.”

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