ANAHEIM — A goal from Servite’s Fabian Estrada in the seventh minute wound up being the only goal of the contest as the Friars defeated St. John Bosco 1-0 in a Trinity League boys soccer match Wednesday at Servite High School.
The goal came off a corner kick from Servite’s Nico Pacelli, who placed the kick in front of the goal. The Friars’ Gregg Gonzalez tried to head the ball into the net. Braves goalkeeper Andrew Gonzalez leaped high to make a stop, but Estrada ran to the ball and headed it into the goal.
“I followed up on it,” Estrada said. “I ran and chased after it. I saw it in front and I had to put it in.”
The victory keeps Servite (9-4, 3-1), the No. 2 team in the Orange County Top 10, near the top of the league standings with No.1 Mater Dei, which handed the Friars their only league loss.
The Braves (11-4-1, 0-3-1) need to string some victories together in order to get into the mix with the Monarchs, Friars and No. 3 JSerra.
Despite the victory, Servite coach Alex Ramirez was not pleased with his team’s overall performance.
“We definitely did not play to our ability,” Ramirez said. “Bosco was the better team today. They outplayed us all over the field. I guess it wasn’t our day. Everything was off. So, we have to get back into training and everything and fix that.”
Ramirez had plenty of praise for his bench players and for goalkeeper Andrew Lenert, who made clutch saves and broke up the Braves’ scoring chances.
“My goalkeeper kept us in the game,” the coach said. “He kept us in in the game in the moments when our boys were figuring out how to be their best selves.”
On one sequence late in the first half, Lenert left the goal to beat an attacker to the ball and then kicked it away.
On another play in the second half, Lenert stole a cross pass.
He also leaped to grab a ball out of the air on a Braves corner kick.
“I feel like I had some good saves but it was definitely a team effort,” Lenert said. “I’m glad I could come through when the team needed me and we were still able to earn the win.”
The Friars will complete their first round of league games when they play host to Orange Lutheran on Friday.
“You can’t afford a loss in this league,” Ramirez said. “The margins are too small and the opponents are too good. And St. John Bosco proved that to us today. We need to train better. We need to be locked in on every opponent like they’re the champions. Like it’s a championship game. That is the energy we need to play at this level in this league.”