Lancers Settle for Share of Title

On the field, the boys’ soccer teams from Orange Lutheran and Carpinteria couldn’t be any more different.

But on the scoreboard, they were exactly the same.

Orange Lutheran, a physical, power team, and Carpinteria, which plays a ball-control and finesse game, battled to a 1-1 tie Saturday night at Cerritos Gahr High and shared the Southern Section Division V title.

And despite winning the school’s first section title in boys’ soccer, the mood on the Lancer sideline was far from celebratory.

“The guys feel a little down about [the tie], but we’ll take it,” Orange Lutheran Coach Del Montell said. “There’s nothing really to be somber about.”

Orange Lutheran (23-4-5) used its up-tempo style right away, constantly sending balls deep into Carpinteria territory and bombarding the Warrior goal with shot after shot.

Some were off the mark and others were stopped by Carpinteria goalkeeper Vicente Torres, who was tremendous with 12 saves.

But in the 17th minute, Jon Talmage found himself in the right place after a corner kick and blasted a shot past Torres to give Orange Lutheran a 1-0 lead.

Orange Lutheran’s Jeff Reniver controlled the corner kick on the left side of the field, beat two defenders and chipped a pass toward the middle.

Robert Farrington got to the ball first, and sent a perfect header to Talmage about 10 yards in front of the goal.

“I was just crashing to the net looking for a rebound,” Talmage said. “Our strategy is to keep pressing the goal, especially in the first five minutes. We want to score early to get the other team back on its heels.”

Carpinteria (15-4-6) answered four minutes into the second half, when Alex Karpenko got free in front of the Orange Lutheran goal and sent a header to the lower left corner.

“I think it was a miscommunication on who was covering who,” Talmage said. “It was a great goal. Give that guy credit. It caught us off guard and we played down for a few minutes after that.”

The Lancers, who dominated up to that point, did lose control. In the first half they were aggressive on loose balls. After the Carpinteria goal, they played defensively.

In the last 10 minutes, however, the Lancers rediscovered their intensity and made several runs at the Warrior goal, but couldn’t get the game-winner.

“I felt we totally outplayed them in the first half,” Montell said. “Then we went through about a 20-minute stretch when we didn’t do anything.”