Estancia boys’ soccer stuns crosstown rival with comeback win
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Estancia dictated play all along, had most of the possession, kept archrival Costa Mesa under nearly constant pressure, and found itself down two goals 14 minutes into the second half. Welcome to soccer.
A formation change led to a quick response, an equalizer soon followed, and the Eagles rallied to claim their first Battle for the Bell boys’ soccer victory in nearly four years Thursday as freshman midfielder Manny Negrete put away a sizzling winner with about three and a half minutes to go.
Negrete and senior striker Christian Gomez scored two goals apiece to overcome a Carlos Alcala hat trick — all three goals following turnovers for the visiting Mustangs — in a 4-3 triumph that spawned rollicking celebrations amid “who’s your daddy” chants ringing out from the sizable student contingent in the stands.
“The boys showed a lot of maturity,” said Estancia head coach Rob Castellano, who switched from a 4-2-3-1 formation to a more attack-minded 4-4-2 with a diamond-shaped midfield after Alcala made it 3-1 in the 54th minute.
“The boys really were hungry,” Castellano continued. “They actually called it out, what they wanted to play, so I listened to them. Good leadership from all the boys.
“I’m proud of them. It’s been [a long time since we’ve won the Bell], and they deserved that.”
Estancia (3-0) outshot Costa Mesa, 18-5, while playing from behind most of the way. Alcala provided the Mustangs a third-minute lead after stripping a defender at the edge of his attacking third, then restored the advantage just before halftime and two minutes after Gomez floated a free kick from the left flank into the upper-right corner.
Alcala’s third, from Lucas Chung’s takeaway and feed, expanded the gap for Costa Mesa (3-1).
“They thought they had it,” said Negrete, who made it 3-2 within a minute. “They thought they won it already and they had it in the bag. But our team never gives up. We keep going until the final whistle blows.”
Gomez tied it up six minutes later from Axel Mejia’s feed, Negrete forced a superb save from Costa Mesa goalkeeper Sergio Tobias in the 72nd minute, and playmaking defender Landon Guillen delivered a long ball for Negrete’s decisive strike in the 77th minute.
“Last minutes of the game, and I just beat the [defender] by heading in front of him and beating him in speed,” Negrete said. “I just tapped it with my head, scored, and it went good.”
Gomez called it an “incredible” comeback.
“We played with passion, we played with heart,” he said, “and we got the final result we wanted.”
Costa Mesa coach Santiago Guzman was philosophical.
“That’s what happens,” he said. “This is the beautiful game of soccer. ... Great game. They played well. My boys played well. I knew mistakes were going to decide this game, and it was either them or us, and at the end of the game, it was us.”
