PLACENTIA — The Tustin and Valencia boys soccer teams battled to a 1-1 tie in a key Empire League match Tuesday at Valencia High School.
Both teams had multiple scoring opportunities, passing well to set up plays close to the goal.
However, the Tillers and Tigers also played excellent defense, with neither team allowing the other to finish off those opportunities.
With three league games remaining, the Tillers (16-2-1, 6-1) are in first place. Pacifica (9-6-3, 5-1-1), which defeated Crean Lutheran, 1-0, on Tuesday, is in second and the Tigers (11-5-6, 4-1-2) are in third.
“We came here just thinking of not losing,” Tustin coach Hector Najera. “The league title is on the line. The intensity was there from the first minute. They didn’t want to lose this game for sure.”
Tustin focused its defense on stopping forward Carson Hammond, who had two goals and an assist in the Tigers’ 4-1 victory over Tustin in the teams’ first meeting on Dec. 22 at Tustin.
“Tustin changed their system up,” Valencia coach Barry Gardner said. “They brought their better players back to defend us, to deal with (Hammond) because he is the guy who breaks through. They double-teamed and triple-teamed him. They did a good job. That was their game plan.”
Valencia goalkeeper Chris Dura made two diving saves in the final 10 minutes of the contest.
Dura dove and batted down a swift kick from Nathan Avina and then gathered the ball in as it was rolling away, preventing a nearby Tustin player from getting a shot on the rebound.
Dura then knocked away a shot by Gael Rosas, who had taken a perfect cross pass from Juan Luis Quintana.
Earlier in the second, Rosas’ cross pass from a wide angle passed through the box, but there was no Tiller there to receive the pass.
With about two minutes remaining in the game, a scuffle broke out between the teams after Hammond pushed a Tustin player to the ground.
Hammond received a red card for the infraction and if the referees determine that the offense was overly violent, Hammond could be suspended for multiple games, Gardner said.
“We don’t know,” the coach said. “It depends on the referee’s report. If it’s a regular red, he’s back the next game. If it’s a violent red, he’s suspended for three games which is the rest of the regular season.”