By John M. Sherrard
LOS ANGELES –The Bishop Amat High School boys’ soccer team may not be on anyone’s radar outside of the San Gabriel Valley. Not anymore.
The undefeated Lancers, who aren’t in anyone’s top ten outside of The Tribune, including the poll that counts the most – the CIF-Southern Section Division 3 – might just creep into the conversation after a huge 1-0 Del Rey League victory over host Salesian of Los Angeles Wednesday night.
With the victory the Lancers and Cathedral are atop the league with identical records. Amat tied division 3 top-ranked Cathedral in its first league game, 4-4.
Cathedral is ranked second and Salesian fifth in Top Drawer Soccer.com’s Southern California rankings, which is a gauge of all of Southern California high school soccer.
Salesian, which was undefeated on the season before a loss to Cathedral and Bishop Amat in consecutive games, falls to 15-2 and 2-2 while the Lancers remain undefeated at 8-0-4 and 3-0-1.
Scoring the only goal in the game was senior forward Brandon Arconado in the 71st minute of a game almost totally controlled by the Lancers at both ends.
The play started out as a set piece when junior midfielder David Cabral took a corner kick that went in front of the goal and senior forward Matthew Espinoza took a shot that careened off Salesian goal keeper Marcos Garnica and Arconado was in the right place at the right time.
“I don’t know, I was surprised myself,” Arconado said of his goal. “It bounced off the goalie and rolled right in front of me. The opportunity was there and I just took it.
“Matthew took the shot and I was there.”
Arconado accumulated two yellow cards in the game, with the second coming just four minutes after his goal. The Lancers had four in the game.
With the two yellows, Arconado will have to sit out the next game, which is Friday against St. Monica.
However, the senior will miss the game anyway as he is playing in the San Gabriel Valley Hall of Fame All Star football game Friday night. He was a wide receiver on the Lancers team.
Bishop Amat has not started a season undefeated in years and has not had the success it is seeing this year.
“We turned this program around with the 15 senior s on the team,” Arconado said, who has been on varsity all four years.
“There are about thirteen players that have been playing together for a solid three years and I think we are now working well together.”
The Lancers came out fast and peppered the Mustangs keeper with ten quality shots in the first half. The sophomore keeper kept his team in the game with seven saves in the half and 11 in the game.
“This is a huge win for the boys and the school,” first year coach Guillermo Gonzalez said. “They have been working hard ever since I took the team this year. I see something special in them.
“I see a special run in these guys.”
Gonzalez took over the helm from his brother Ruben, who coached the team for the last ten years.
The second half was more of the same for the Lancers as they came out with aggressive play and the defense, led by seniors Benjamin Vigil, Hugo Sanchez and Luke Holt and junior Arnold Fields, kept the Mustangs from any good shots.
“Amat played a great game (Wednesday) and I think we were definitely outplayed,” Salesian first-year coach Gerardo Villasenor said.