Laguna Hills’ Reed Talks, Plays a Good Game
Eric Reed didn’t have a head cold or a sore throat and he hadn’t been singing too much karaoke. But his voice was definitely on the raspy side.
Reed simply has been playing too much soccer. Or to be more specific, he has been spending too much time hanging out between the posts.
One of the county’s best goalkeepers, Reed is also one of the loudest and busiest. He plays for five teams--Laguna Hills High, the Irvine Strikers club, the state and regional Olympic Development Program teams and the under-18 national team.
This weekend, Reed was in Las Vegas playing for the state ODP team. Last Wednesday, he was back in California leading Laguna Hills to a 1-0 upset of fifth-ranked Woodbridge.
By Saturday, his voice was nearly gone.
“I yell a lot,” said Reed, a junior. “My voice comes and it goes. It’ll come back.”
It had better. Because without it, Reed is lost.
“He has a great voice,” said Laguna Hills Coach Scott Johnson. “He doesn’t just yell, he bellows. He has that defense on its marks and he has a great repartee with the forwards in practice. His voice commands respect.”
Of course, if Reed didn’t have some talent to go along with the voice, he would have a hard time getting anyone to listen. But Johnson said Reed backs up the booming voice with soft, steady hands, great leaping ability and a fearless attitude.
“He probably comes out a little farther than I’d like,” Johnson said. “But he reads the game so well, I hate to put reins on him. Obviously, he knows what he’s doing.”
Woodbridge junior Pieter Berger, who has played against Reed in high school and with him on the Strikers, said he hasn’t faced many goalkeepers better than Reed.
“He’s really quick and he’s just real solid,” Berger said. “He doesn’t have a lot of bad games.”
Reed’s value to Laguna Hills was evident last year. While he was in Chile with the under-18 national team in January, Laguna Hills went 0-4 in the first half of the Sea View League season. With Reed back, the Hawks were 2-2-1 and almost qualified for the playoffs.
This season, the Hawks are 8-3-4 overall and 1-0 in league despite playing without Reed for five games in late December while he recovered from arthroscopic surgery on his knee.
In October, Reed had arthroscopic surgery on his other knee. Incredibly, Reed recovered from both surgeries in two weeks.
Why was he in such a hurry to get back on the field?
“Soccer’s worth it,” he said. “You don’t feel the pain during the game.”
Once the winter season ends, Reed will take off the soccer gloves and put on a baseball glove. He is a center fielder and pitcher on the Laguna Hills baseball team.
“Baseball a nice change of pace, but my first love is really soccer,” Reed said. “My club coaches and my goalie coaches have kept me loving the game. I’ve never gotten bored or burned out.”
Next fall, life probably won’t be boring around the Reed house. Reed figures to be one of the most heavily recruited players in the county. UCLA and California have already expressed interest.
LEARNING A LESSON
Berger, who leads Woodbridge with 12 goals and five assists, was one of five starters suspended by Coach Jon Szczuka for the Warriors’ league opener against Laguna Hills.
The violation? The players went snowboarding in Mammoth against Szczuka’s wishes.
“I think it was fair because we did break the rules,” Berger said. “He is the coach and he makes the rules. He just didn’t want us to get hurt.”
Berger said he had a “great time” in Mammoth, but he’s not sure the trip was worth it. The Warriors lost, 1-0, and played with a man advantage the last 26 minutes.
“It hurt our team,” he said. “There’s only eight games of league and now we’re 0-1. It puts a lot of emphasis on the next seven games.”
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
BOYS’ SOCCER TOP 10
Orange County Sportswriters’ Poll
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Pos. School (League) Rec 1. Dana Hills (South Coast) 13-1-2 2. Mater Dei (Serra) 18-1-2 3. Santa Margarita (Serra) 15-3-2 4. El Dorado (Empire) 13-1-2 5. Woodbridge (Sea View) 13-3-2 6. Capistrano Valley (South Coast) 13-2-3 7. Huntington Beach (Sunset) 7-2-1 8. Esperanza (Sunset) 9-1-3 9. Los Alamitos (Sunset) 10-1-3 10. Brea (Orange) 16-1-0
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Others: Marina (9-3-4), Fountain Valley (6-2-5), Laguna Hills 8-3-4, Sonora (9-4-1) Estancia (5-2-3)
