Edison’s Carman Gets Winning Goal on Land
Edison senior Shaun Carman, an All-Southern Section water polo player, scored his first land goal of the season and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Carman sent a pass from forward Danny Collins past Esperanza goalkeeper Luke Sargent with four minutes left in regulation to give fourth-ranked Edison a 2-1 victory and a chance to play Fountain Valley for the Sunset League boys’ soccer title.
“You score a lot of goals in water polo,” said Carman, who was moved to midfield from defender two games ago. “But this feels a lot better than any of those goals. Danny flicked it on and I was there at the far post at the right time.”
Edison Coach David Smart said he wondered why he didn’t move Carman to midfield earlier.
“I think I overlooked him,” Smart said. “He had to get his land legs back from water polo. He’s really stabilized the middle and given us some consistency and maturity.”
Edison controlled most of the game but didn’t have much to show for it until Collins headed a Jeff Kunze free kick past Sargent in the 73rd minute.
“I had a lot of chances,” said Collins, who leads Edison with 14 goals. “I finally got a clean one.”
Tenth-ranked Esperanza (14-6-2, 5-4) responded 30 seconds later when Tony Ferrari found the upper left corner of the net with a blast from 25 yards. But two minutes later, Carman scored the winner.
Edison, which outshot Esperanza, 13-4, will win its first league title in seven years if it wins Wednesday at Fountain Valley.
Esperanza, which lost its first three games this season, will clinch third place with a win at Marina.
In other Sunset League games:
No. 2 Fountain Valley 3, Los Alamitos 0--Cliff McKinley scored two goals, giving him 24 this season, for Fountain Valley (15-2-3, 6-1-2). Sean Iliff also scored for the Barons, and Kyle Polack set a school record with his 12th shutout of the season.
No. 6 Huntington Beach 3, Marina 0--Drew McAthy, Joel Murphy and Morgan Vanvalkenburgh each scored for visiting Huntington Beach (14-4-2, 4-4-1).