Eastlake boys soccer team rides early success to 1-0 league start

Eastlake’s Johnny McCann (13) vies with Bonita Vista’s Rodgio Luna (19) for possession of the ball. Photo by Phillip Brents

It’s not easy playing on the uneven grass turf at Bonita Vista High School, and that might be one of the Barons’ home field advantages when entertaining visiting Mesa League soccer teams this season.

It certainly took the Eastlake Titans time to adjust to the playing field — and the fast game played by the hosts — before settling in to record a 1-0 victory in the teams’ Mesa League opener last Friday.

“With almost all the schools in the Sweetwater Union High School District now playing on artificial surfaces, playing on a grass field has become somewhat rare,” EHS head coach Jason Renfro said. “But one of the qualities that I like about our team this season is its resiliency.”

The Barons dominated the early going of the match between neighborhood rivals before territorial play began to even out, and then tip in the Titans’ favor.

The only goal in the game came in the first minute of the second half when senior team captain Samay Rahim curled a bending shot into the top upper corner to the net.

Senior midfielder Isaac Cass drew the assist on the play.

Both teams exchanged good scoring opportunities throughout the remainder of the game but Rahim’s shot was the only one to bulge twine.

Junior Parker Merrifield and senior Ismael Solis each played one half to combine for 16 saves and the shutout victory — the team’s third this season.

The win raised Eastlake’s early season record to 6-3-2. The Titans got off to an optimistic 2-0-2 start with victories against West Hills and Hover and draws against Cathedral Catholic and Scripps Ranch.

Eastlake defeated El Camino, 5-0, in the SoCal High School Classic Dec. 28 and followed with wins over Los Angeles Smidt Tech and Roosevelt to end the 2017 calendar year.

Rahim, a forward, leads the Titans in scoring with 11 goals and five assists while Adrian Reyes, a senior center-midfielder, has scored three goals and two assists to rank second in team scoring through 11 games.

Top returners for Eastlake include Rahim, Reyes, senior midfielder Johnny McCann and sophomore center-midfielder Danny Martinez.

Rahim finished as the runner-up for last season’s Mesa League Player of the Year award after recording 13 goals and seven assists.

Impact newcomers include Cass, a senior center-midfielder, junior defender Tyler Sherard, junior midfielder Mauricio Ricalde, sophomore midfielder/forward Greg Martinez and sophomore midfielder/defender Eric Allen.

Martinez was the junior varsity team’s Golden Boot recipient last season.

Eastlake has been knocked out in the San Diego Section semifinals in three of the past five seasons, including two via the kicks-from-the-mark tiebreaker.

The Titans have moved to the Division I level this season.

“We’ve been close to reaching our goals — a CIF title — but have fallen short,” Renfro said. “Last year’s record of 14 wins, 10 losses and two draws was an example of games going either way. Our first loss was by more than one goal, so every game we played could’ve gone either way. This season we look to win our Mesa League and get a high seed in either the Open Division or Division I.

“The challenges are going to be great, but over the past six seasons, we have gradually moved from Division III to Division I. We have seen a steady stream of players who play at an extremely high level outside high school that has transitioned the program. Adding a novice program a few years back has allowed us to have a feeder program that creates an additional 22 student-athletes.”

The Titans have thus set the bar high for the 2017-18 season.

“Our team chemistry is key, especially early in the season, as these boys have yet to play together,” Renfro noted. “As we get into January, the chemistry should begin to take shape and our play should become well organized. With a large senior class and a solid junior and sophomore class the season outlook is bright.”

Getting their kicks
Bonita Vista dropped to 0-1 in league play, 6-4-1 overall, following last Friday’s loss to Eastlake. The Barons were coming off a stretch of five games in four days after competing in the San Diego County Cup Dec. 27-30.

“We knew we were a little banged up,” BVHS coach Tracy Powell noted.

The Barons finished 2-2-1 in the inaugural event hosted by Hilltop High School and the Quin Murphy Foundation played at eight sites around the county. Bonita Vista defeated Lincoln and Hilltop, lost to Helix and Crawford and tied Otay Ranch in its five games.

Sweetwater won the boys varsity division based on accumulated points.

The 40-event was unique in that it included boys varsity, girls varsity as well as junior varsity and freshmen divisions. Twenty teams competed in each of the boys and girls brackets.

Our Lady of Peace won the girls varsity division while Steele Canyon captured both the girls JV and freshman divisions.

Chula Vista won the boys JV division while Eastlake won the boys freshman division.

Tournament director John Salts said reservations for next year’s tournament are already being accepted. Tournament dates for the 2018 event are Dec. 26-30.

Contact john.salts@sweetewaterschools.org for more information.

 

PREP SPORTSLINE

Boys Basketball
Mesa League
Friday, Jan. 5
Montgomery 83, Otay Ranch 81
Eastlake 96, San Ysidro 72
Mater Dei Catholic 89, Bonita Vista 65

Wednesday, Jan. 3
Otay Ranch 94, San Ysidro 67
Montgomery 84, Olympian 67

Non-League
Friday, Dec. 5
Chula Vista 57, High Tech High Chula Vista 56
Hilltop 63, West Hills 59

Girls Basketball
Mesa League
Friday, Jan. 5
Bonita Vista 81, Mater Dei Catholic 76
Eastlake 67, Hilltop 22
Montgomery 50, Otay Ranch 32

Boys Soccer
Mesa League
Friday, Jan. 5
Eastlake 1, Bonita Vista 0

Non-League
Friday, Jan. 5
Mira Mesa 1, Olympian 1
Lincoln 3, Mar Vista 1
Castle Park 2, Chula Vista 1
Health Sciences 7, High Tech High Chula Vista 2

Girls Soccer
South Bay League
Friday, Jan. 5
Sweetwater 1, Mater Dei Catholic 1
Mar Vista 2, Castle Park 1
Southwest 1, San Ysidro 0

Wednesday, Jan. 3
Hilltop 1, Mar Vista 1

 

 

Girls water polo: Eastlake Lady Titans win trio of games at Winter Classic tournament

Eastlake High School’s girls water polo team won its final three games in this year’s Winter Classic Dec. 14-16, defeating Serra, Steele Canyon and Mission Bay, to finish 3-2 in the pre-Christmas tournament.

The Lady Titans defeated Poway and Steele Canyon in a pair of non-league games on Dec. 19 and Dec. 20 to run their winning streak to five games (and overall record to 8-6) to end the first semester.

Eastlake entered the week fourth in the San Diego Section Division II power rankings behind University City (6-4), Scripps Ranch (8-3) and Grossmont (5-5). Bonita Vista (1-1) was seventh while Otay Ranch (4-2) was 10th. Hilltop (2-3) entered the week 14th in the Division II power rankings while Mater Dei Catholic (3-0) was 18th.

San Ysidro (2-2) entered the week second in the Division III power rankings while Chula Vista (4-5) was fourth, Olympian (2-3) was seventh and Southwest (0-1) was ninth.

Mar Vista (0-4) entered the week 19th in the Division I power rankings.