The soccer game between Fullerton and Cypress on Tuesday was a stalemate for most of the game, and neither team could find the back of the net. It stayed this way until the 74th minute when Cypress committed a foul inside the box, which awarded the Hornets a penalty kick and won them the game 1-0.
The controversial call caused an eruption from both coaches and fans on the Chargers’ side. Cypress Head Coach Cristian Rus furiously sprinted down the sideline to plead his case against the official’s call. The call was upheld, and Fullerton winger Jacob Leggette lined up for his penalty kick.
The process of Leggette’s penalty kick was simple. He shifted his eyes towards the top left side of the net to deceive the goalkeeper, and then he shot at the bottom right. Leggette’s plan succeeded as he buried the ball low right and put Fullerton up 1-0, which took home the game for the team.
“Pick a side, look one way, then pick a side and just slide it in,” said Leggette.
Cypress started this game with good patience, possessing the ball down in Fullerton’s defensive zone, and firing three shots on goal at the Hornets goalkeeper Steven Martinez within the first 20 minutes of play.
Martinez had to be ready early and was a brick wall for the Hornets all night. At the 8-minute mark, he made two clutch saves from up close, diving across the goal line to prevent right winger Erik Hernandez of the Chargers from scoring an early goal.
“He ate a lot of big saves and kept us in the game. Gave us enough opportunity to get our legs underneath us,” said Fullerton Head Coach Greg Aviles.
Fullerton gained more control of the ball as the first half went on and produced many chances that could have resulted in goals, but the Hornets couldn’t seize the opportunities they were given.
Leggette got a clean look created from a free kick, but his low shot barely missed the net. Later, forward Josiahs Palacios tried to catch the Cypress goalkeeper Demian Baldovinos off guard by taking a shot from the corner in a play that looked like Palacios was trying to cross the ball to the center.
In the 38th minute, midfielder Ryan Manabe couldn’t have imagined a better opportunity to score as the ball was set up perfectly in the center with nobody to beat except the goalkeeper. The shot sailed wide left, and after all these shot attempts, Fullerton ended the first half with nothing to show on the scoreboard.
The Hornets came back on the field even stronger to start the second half with some early scoring chances. In the 46th minute, Leggette got the ball downfield quickly and laced the ball towards the net, but missed high. No less than a minute later, midfielder Antonio Villafana ripped the ball at the net, but also missed high.
“I feel like we pressed way better than we did in the last few games, so that helped us move the momentum from them having the ball in the back to us having the ball more,” said Leggette. “Then, just focusing on the pin points, like the weak size that they have, and just focusing on that so we can get more balls through.”
There were many shot attempts in this game, but most of them weren’t on goal. The Hornets struggled to get the ball on net, having 11 shot attempts but only 2 on goal. On the other hand, the Chargers were more efficient, shooting the ball 9 times and having 5 shots on goal.
The ball was stuck in the middle of the field for a good stretch of the second half, and the game had little action until Leggete netted the game-winner off a penalty kick in the 74th minute.
The Chargers pushed hard for some late-game heroics, putting the pressure on Fullerton and taking three shots that all missed the net in the final 10 minutes of the game. The late effort from Cypress was not enough, and Fullerton would win with a final score of 1-0, which put their record for the season at 5-6-5.
“We just had a lot of fight. At first, it was coming out a little hesitant, just trying to be too conservative to knowing the magnitude of the game, and then after that, we really stepped up and said we’re going to get after it,” said Aviles.
