The Eastlake Titans are still chasing this year’s Mesa League championship banner; they have to hope it doesn’t evade their gasp in the closing weeks of the season after putting in so much hard work into the quest over the course of the season.
The Titans played to their second tie this week after building a 6-0-0 start in Mesa League play. Eastlake drew 1-1 with visiting Bonita Vista on Wednesday (Jan. 31) and had to settle for a 2-2 tie at Castle Park on Friday (Feb. 2).
Teams earn three points for a win and one point for a tie in the standings. The Titans picked up just two of six possible points in their last two games in what has to be considered a frustrating week.
Friday’s match was hard fought by both teams and was understandably emotional with stakes for each time on the line.
Castle Park tied the contest in the final two minutes as Mauro Estolano got behind the Titan defense and, running parallel to the goal line, sprayed a shot into the far corner of the net.
The Titans had taken a 2-1 lead on a penalty kick goal by Samay Rahim five minutes earlier.
Eastlake scored the go-ahead goal despite playing a man down following the ejection of a player for a second yellow card midway through the second half.
The tie felt more like a loss to the Titans (11-3-4) in their bid to sew up this year’s league title. However, head coach Jason Renfro said the two ties will not necessarily take his team out of the championship race.
Eastlake hosts San Ysidro in a league match on Wednesday, Feb. 7, and plays at Southwest on Friday, Feb. 9. Both are big matches for the Titans.
Southwest is the team closest to Eastlake in the Mesa League standings with a 5-1-0 league record. The Titans topped the host Raiders, 4-2, on Jan. 17.
“If we can get a result against Southwest, we should be O.K.,” Renfro said.
The teams traded first-half goals in Friday’s match. Jezrael Saiko put the Titans up 1-0 while Francisco Lopez scored on a left-foot shot to the goalkeeper’s right side to knot the score at a goal apiece.
The second half was particularly intense, especially as time ran down in the contest.
Eastlake had a goal called back midway through the second half due to an off-side infraction; the Titans hit the crossbar in the dying minutes of the match to produce a double whammy.
“We had a lot of scoring opportunities that could have put the game out of reach in the first 30 minutes,” Renfro assessed.
On the other hand, the tie felt more like a win for Castle Park.
“It was a fought hard game,” Trojan coach Paul Cobian Jr. explained. “Our guys didn’t want to lose two games at home this week.”
Castle Park dropped a 4-1 decision to west side rival Chula Vista on Wednesday. Cobian said his team did not take advantage of its opportunities in tumbling to the league setback.
“When you get chances, you’ve got to put them away,” the CPHS coach said.
The Trojans, who lost 1-0 at Eastlake on Jan. 10, are 3-3-2 in league play, 10-6-4 overall. They play at Bonita Vista on Wednesday (Feb. 7) and host Montgomery on Senior Night on Friday (Feb. 9).
Castle Park sits in the middle of the pack in the Division II standings while Eastlake is shooting for inclusion in this year’s Open Division tournament.
“This (the tie against Eastlake) should move us up a few percentage points,” Cobian said. “We didn’t make the playoffs last year but did well enough to be moved up to Division II. We had hoped to be top four this year. We’ll see what happen in our last three games.”
Castle Park is currently ranked fifth among Division II teams.
Southwest (12-5-2) is currently second in the Division II power rankings; the Titans (11-3-4) are fourth among Open Division teams.
The Trojans conclude their season with a Feb. 14 match at Southwest.
