Norwalk shuts out La Mirada, 2-0, in Suburban League soccer opener
Norwalk’s Saul Hernandez (20) reacts after scoring in their Suburban League boys soccer game at John Glenn High School in Norwalk on Tuesday. Norwalk defeated La Mirada 2-0. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
NORWALK – Coming into Tuesday’s Suburban League opener at John Glenn High School, both the Norwalk and La Mirada boys soccer teams looked even on paper.
Both teams had identical 6-1-2 records, they are both ranked in the top 10 in the latest (Jan. 3) CIF-Southern Section Division 2 poll and have nearly scored the same number of goals.
La Mirada, which is the defending league champ, had scored 24 goals and had given up only six, while Norwalk had scored 20 and allowed 13.
As for the score, Norwalk’s defense shined and the Lancers shutout host La Mirada, 2-0, to open league play.
With the win, No. 2-ranked Norwalk raised its record to 7-1-2, 1-0 while No.6-ranked La Mirada is 6-2-2, 0-1.
“(La Mirada) has a great team,” Norwalk coach Vinson Pluma said. “They’re in D2, we’re in D2, they’re ranked, we’re ranked and we might see them in the playoffs, you never know. For a league, it makes us look good.”
Next up for Norwalk is a game at home against Mayfair, Thursday, Jan. 6 (results not available at press time) and the Matadores take on Bellflower Tuesday (Jan. 11).
“That’s the first time we’ve been shut out all season,” La Mirada coach Philip Yovino said. “You can’t say we didn’t create chances. Sometimes it doesn’t go that way. I was telling the boys, ‘You can’t tempt the soccer Gods. When you don’t put the chances away, the game usually comes back to haunt you sometimes.’”
Norwalk, which has a good mix of seniors and underclassmen, took a 1-0 lead near the halfway mark of the first half.
The ball was deflected by La Mirada junior goalie Ryan Moreno-Rojas and was then kicked in by Lancers junior midfielder Diego Martinez in the 19th minute.
Despite the loss, Yovino praised his senior defender, Jackson Peck. “I thought he was solid in the back,” he said. “He’s been sick for the last week and gave a good performance in the back. He’s one of our center backs.”
Even though the Matadores didn’t score, three of his midfielders were active – seniors Diego Ramirez and Ivan Palomares along with junior Jaylinn Mitchell.
“Diego and Ivan are kind of the service guys in the middle and Jaylinn is kind of the point of our attack a lot of the times for us,” he added. “We didn’t have a good first half and (it) put us in a place where we looked rusty and it looked like we hadn’t played in almost two weeks.”
The Lancers’ second goal for the 2-0 lead was their first shot on goal in the second half, coming in the 65TH minute by junior forward Saul Hernandez, on an assist from junior midfielder Martinez.
On the score, Pluma talked about how the goal was set up.
“We have a lot of good, quality players on our team and I really liked that interchange with Diego,” Pluma said. “He was dribbling and he pulled the guys (La Mirada players) and then he fed (Hernandez). He already knew where he wanted to go and received it on his left, and then take the keeper and put it in on the far post.
“He knew what he was doing. He’s a good quality player.”
Pluma also praised Martinez for his play.
“Diego can almost play on any academy team,” Pluma said. “We’re fortunate to have him. He should actually be on an academy team but likes to stay. I’m glad.”
Norwalk was unbeaten to begin the season in the first seven games, winning five of those games. In all five games the Lancers scored three goals in each one.
“We started off on fire (seven games),” said Pluma, of the hot start. “Then we started petering out with the seniors going through college Apps and finals and everything and some players going out of town before the (Christmas) break. We were playing with a different team and the feel wasn’t there.”
Pluma was probably referring to their only loss of the season so far, a 2-0 setback to Anaheim on December 15.
The Lancers rebounded with a 2-0 non-league win over Schurr two days later.
“Coming back after two weeks, I was nervous and I wasn’t sure what we were going to get,” Pluma added. “The same with (La Mirada), they haven’t been playing for two weeks either.
“So now, we’re both (Norwalk and La Mirada) going to have to win all of our games and they’re going to have to win every single game and the they are going to have to challenge us at the end at our place. I’m hoping that’s what it’s going to have to come down to and then we can take care of business at home.”
La Mirada actually outshot the Lancers in the second half, 10-2, and Yovino pointed out their missed opportunities.
“I felt good and we created six good chances in the second half,” he said. “We hit the post twice, we created set pieces, we got behind them.
“We did a lot of good things. The first half we just put ourselves in a hole and we came out sluggish and looked more rusty than we should have.”
Even with the two goals in the game, Yovino had nothing but great things to say about his captain between the pipes, Moreno-Rojas.
“The goals were unfortunate, but Ryan has been stellar for us all season,” Yovino said. “He would say that would not be a thing that he would be happy or proud of. He’s a competitor and has been solid throughout.
All six of the Matadores wins are shutouts.
Both teams still have to play the remaining three teams, Mayfair, Firebaugh and Bellflower, before meeting again to start the second half of league play. That big re-match takes place at Norwalk in less than two weeks, January 20.
Norwalk last won league in 2018 and both have been going back and forth in the top two spots in league, other than 2019 when the Matadores finished in fourth place.
The teams split games the last two seasons. Last year, Norwalk won the first game, 2-0, and La Mirada won the second-half matchup, 6-0.
In addition, both teams have been moved up to D2 recently.
Norwalk moved up two divisions from D4 to D2 last season and La Mirada competed in D3 last season.
The Matadores advanced to the quarterfinals last season, losing to eventual CIF runner-up, Norte Vista.
Norwalk also made it to the quarterfinals this past season, losing to eventual CIF Champion, Aliso Niguel.