Edison Hammers Home Point, Defeats El Dorado

Snubbed in the boys’ soccer preseason polls, Edison came out Wednesday against fifth-ranked El Dorado looking to make a statement.

Mission accomplished.

The visiting Chargers, who entered the county rankings this week at No. 7, blasted undermanned and weary El Dorado, 5-1, behind senior Devin Kato, who had two goals and an assist.

“This was huge,” Kato said. “I thought we had earned some respect by making the [Division II] quarterfinals last year. But I guess not. We have a lot of seniors on this team and we’re looking to make this our year.”

The Chargers’ season has started with four consecutive victories, three over top-10 teams. Wednesday’s victory was impressive, but it would have been even more significant had El Dorado scoring leader Ignacio Cid played. Cid has missed the last three games because of a mild concussion suffered in a 5-3 victory over Esperanza.

“He scored twice against us last year,” Kato said. “He makes a hell of a difference.”

Cid, who scored seven goals in the Golden Hawks’ first six games, had a hard time watching from the sideline.

“It’s boring,” he said. “It’s tough to see the team go down. I was ready to play, but the doctor told me to hold off.”

El Dorado Coach Marc Smith said Wednesday’s loss had more to do with Edison’s play and poor scheduling than Cid’s absence.

“We’ve played seven games in seven days,” Smith said. “We’re beat. We thought we had the majority of the possessions, but our legs just weren’t there to clean up the loose balls. And they finished most of them.”

Edison finished all of them in the first half, scoring three times on three shots. Danny Collins scored first, heading in a Jeff Kunze free kick in the fourth minute. Kato scored in the 22nd minute on a header and he assisted on the third goal, a left-footed blast by Tim Trout.

El Dorado (7-2) closed to 3-1 in the 67th minute on a rebound goal by forward Ryan Valdez, but Kato and defender Matt Mehaffey came back to score unassisted goals in the last two minutes.

“We had the same number of shots we’ve been getting all year,” Kato said. “But the difference today was that we finished them off.”