LJ b soccer: Quarterfinal spotlight

By Ed Piper, Jr.

Before La Jolla's CIF quarterfinal playoff game at home against Helix, Highlander coach Joaquin Huertero knew his squad had their hands full.

"We don't know (much about the Vikings)," said Huertero Friday morning, Feb. 24, before the 5 p.m. game. "We know they have some guys up front we'll have to deal with."

Those "guys up front" include Lukas Keeling, a U.S. Soccer Academy veteran, and Andrew Estrella, among others. Keeling favors his left foot, Estrella his right.

Plus "we're a young team", said Huertero, whose squad defeated Gompers 1-0 in overtime in the first round Tues., Feb. 21, on a sudden-death "golden goal". "We only have four seniors at the moment. We have four freshmen," including starting goalkeeper Joey Luna, who has performed well.

The fourth-year head coach at Helix, his 14th year coaching in the Highlander program, said his seniors have taken responsibility for showing their underclassmen teammates the way. "The seniors do a good job of policing the younger players," said Huertero, in an interesting choice of words.

Exercising leadership are senior Eduardo Barrios, a center back on defense, and Jorge Grijalva, who is actually a sophomore.

"I would say (Grijalva) is a sophomore who is vocal. He's mainly a utility player. He'll play wherever we need him."

Of his team overall, as the ninth seed in the Division 3 bracket to the top seed of La Jolla, the CIF Division 4 defending champion, Huertero said, "I would say the technical ability we possess as a group (is a team strength). We're not big, but most of the guys are pretty crafty with the ball.

"Their soccer IQ is high."

In the course of the phone interview, after a reporter told Huertero that his last name meant "orchard worker" in Spanish (huerta, orchard, and -ero the masculine form of the ending meaning "of the orchard"), he seemed a bit surprised and caught off-guard, but acknowledged that was the correct meaning of his surname.

He probably had not encountered too many sports reporters, white or Latino, who could accurately parse the meaning of his last name.