Kevin Herring scored two late goals to help the Los Alamitos boys soccer team to a 4-2 win over Fountain Valley, at Fountain Valley High on Jan. 13. The win, combined with a win over Newport Harbor on Friday, put the Griffins into a tie with the Barons for second place, both at 3-1. The Griffins had taken a 2-1 lead at halftime on goals by senior Anthony Mejia and freshman Brian Chung. But Fountain Valley was able to tie the game at 2-2 on a penalty kick with 26:00 left in the game. But the Griffins were able to keep pressure on the Baron defense and with about 16:00 left in the game, they got the ball into the goal box area. Senior Aron Rudich got off a strong shot toward the goal, but it hit a Baron defender in front of the goal. Herring controlled the rebound and was able to get an open shot on goal. He hit the top right corner from about 15 yards out, to give the Griffins a 3-2 lead. About six minutes later, the Griffins padded the lead on a long throw in from the left side. The ball skipped across a header attempt to the right side of the goal. Again, Herring controlled the ball out of the air and lined up for a shot. As the goalie and defenders tried to move in front of the shooting lane, Herring punched a low ground ball back across the goal that found the left side of the goal for a 4-2 lead. The Griffins ability to capitalize on re-starts (throw-ins, free kicks) was a big reason they were able to get the edge on the Barons, who were 2-0 coming into the game. “I think we were pretty effective on those opportunities,” Head Coach Donovan Martinez said. The field at Fountain Valley is grass, that is patchy and uneven, so it was a challenge for the Griffins, who are now used to playing a practicing on their home turf field. Martinez said that Fountain Valley was able to use long kicks up field to counter attack and create opportunities for themselves. He credited his defense for adjusting to those attacks to hold the Barons to just one goal from the field. Goaltender Alec Lazar was credited with six saves. Julian Guerrero, Adam Havstad and Rudich were all credited with assists. The Griffins followed up the win over Fountain Valley with a 1-0 win over Newport Harbor on Friday. Herring had the goal and Lazar was credited with three saves. The Griffins will play at Huntington Beach on Friday (Jan. 22) at 5 p.m. and then at Marina on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
