Mesa ties T-wolves

Chris Yemma

The Costa Mesa High boys soccer team opened its season in a neutral

type of way. The Mustangs tied visiting Northwood, 1-1, Wednesday in

a nonleague game.

Northwood scored early in the game and Costa Mesa (0-1-1) scored

late, and both teams took the opportunity to figure out what will be

their bread and butter for the season.

The Mustangs appeared to be headed for an early-season loss, as

Northwood held a 1-0 lead for the majority of the game. But in the

74th minute, Mesa’s Zaid Khalil and Alfonso Pineda broke free down

the right side. Khalil centered it from the outside to Pineda, who

got away from his defender and tapped a grounder into the lower-left

side of the goal.

“I just wanted to trap and shoot it,” Pineda said. “After I

scored, it was an adrenaline rush; with the crowd cheering us on it

was an adrenaline rush. We deserved it.”

Northwood’s lone goal came in the fifth minute. The Timberwolves’

Brandon Vena streaked down the right side and found the lower-left

corner of the net, putting the Mustangs on edge the rest of the game.

For a Costa Mesa victory, Mustang assistant coach Trinidad

Hernandez, who filled in for head coach Eugene Day the majority of

the game, said the players needed to focus more on working together

as a team. After the game, despite the tie, Hernandez was pleasantly

surprised.

“I was surprised today, usually they don’t pass the ball that

much,” Hernandez said. “We had [Khalil], who usually doesn’t pass

much, pass it to Pineda for the goal.”

Day made his way to the Costa Mesa sideline with just minutes to

play, but immediately saw some improvement.

“We still have to work on the passing,” Day said. “I sat them down

the other day and said we have to change that. There’s no individuals

in this kind of sport. Individuals come and interact with everyone

else -- that’s how we do it.

“And I think today they did a better job than ever.”

Costa Mesa adopted an assist for its only score, but there were

other plays that showed signs of improved passing. Early in the game,

Mesa almost tied it on a pass from Oscar Guzman to Gerardo Delgado,

but Gerardo’s shot was just wide. And later, James Bueno took a cross

and attempt a shot on goal, just missing.

“We’ve improved a lot,” Day said. “But we still have to work on

our communication.”