Crescenta Valley High boys’ soccer vents frustration in 5-0 win over Glendale
LA CRESCENTA — Plenty of frustration built up within the Crescenta Valley High boys’ soccer team when its 36-match league unbeaten streak came to an end Friday. That spelled bad news for visiting Glendale High Tuesday.
Pablo Sotillo aired most of his frustrations with a four-goal, one-assist performance for the Falcons in their commanding 5-0 victory over the Nitros in league action.
“I’ve been wanting to finish all of them and today I just finished every shot,” said Sotillo, whose Falcons lost to Arcadia on Friday to end their league unbeaten streak. “Usually, I get one or two, but today I just finished them all.
“We were upset because of that last loss and we just had to come out and take it out on somebody; unfortunately, it was Glendale.”
Glendale Coach Artur Aghasyan said his team simply didn’t play well.
“We didn’t play our game,” said Aghasyan, whose team fell to 7-8-2, 2-5-1 in league. “This is one of the worst games we’ve played. CV’s a good team, so you make mistakes and you pay for them.”
The scoring started early for Sotillo and Crescenta Valley, which improved to 14-2-5, 5-1-2 with 17 points in league but sits behind first-place Burroughs (6-2 in league for 18 points). The senior opened the scoring in the seventh minute after a series of nice passes from Erick Trejo and Eric Keshishian.
Trejo maintained possession at the top left of Glendale’s six-yard box before sending a perfectly-timed through pass into the Keshishian, who made a run to the ball before sending a low cross across the face of the goal. Sotillo charged to the far post before booting the ball into the low-left corner.
Sotillo benefited from another quality pass from Shyan Chachi six minutes later. Chachi sent a through ball to Sotillo, who made a run for his second goal of the day, as he buried the shot into the left corner for a 2-0 advantage.
Sotillo got his hat trick on a breakaway off a Pablo Hernandez pass in the 54th minute. Sotillo added another one-on-none goal seven minutes later when CV’s Matt Bracht took a quick free kick and chipped it to him for the easy score.
Another point was added to Sotillo’s stat sheet when he assisted on a Keshishian goal in the 64th minute. Daniel Chang started the attack for the Falcons when he sent a ball into the right side of Glendale’s box to Sotillo, who sent a low cross to the far post. Keshishian was there to direct it in for the easy goal.
The outburst came as CV Coach Grant Clark tweaked his offense, shifting Justin Wright from forward to midfield and bringing midfielder Hernandez up in his place. It led to some terrific passing as each goal was assisted on Tuesday.
“That’s the kind of style we should be playing all year long,” Clark said. “It’s been awhile since we’ve seen that kind of soccer from us. ... We had options and when we have options and decide to play quick we’re tough, and it was fun to watch.”