Saddleback Pulls Rank, Ties No. 1 Santa Ana, 0-0

A scoreless tie doesn’t sound that exciting, but it felt pretty good to Saddleback boys’ soccer Coach Mel Silva, whose struggling team played top-ranked Santa Ana on even terms for 94 minutes Friday at Santa Ana.

Saddleback began the season ranked third in the county, but injuries to forward Thomas Serna and midfielder Jose Retiz, probably Silva’s best two players, made for a rocky pre-league season. Serna broke his clavicle in the season-opener and rejoined the team Friday. Retiz missed the previous four games with a badly sprained ankle. Saddleback dropped out of the top 10.

“We know we have a good club, we just haven’t had everybody healthy,” Silva said. “Maybe we’re ready to start coming together.”

Friday’s overtime tie was a start. Saddleback (6-2-4, 0-0-1 in the Golden West League) didn’t look like the county’s third-best team, but it looked good enough to compete with Santa Ana (9-0-3, 0-0-1) for the league title.

Santa Ana outshot Saddleback, 12-7, but it certainly didn’t dominate the game, which ended after two seven-minute overtime periods. The coaches agreed to the shortened overtime because of a lack of sunlight.

Saddleback’s best chance to win came late in the second overtime period when Luis Serrano’s blast from 15 yards faded right of the right post. Santa Ana’s best two chances came on headers by Mario Gonzalez and Juan Reyes at the 70- and 75-minute marks. Gonzalez’s shot cleared the crossbar and Reyes’ header was caught by Saddleback goalkeeper Efrain Rodriguez for one of his seven saves.

“It seems like every time we play these guys, it’s a tie or a one-goal difference,” Santa Ana Coach Manny Penaflor said. “It’s just a really good rivalry.”

The rivalry will continue Jan. 29 when Santa Ana travels to Saddleback. By then, Silva hopes his team will be playing more like a third-ranked team.

“I think our best soccer is ahead of us,” he said. “The more they play together, the more they will jell. You could see that today. We missed a few we shouldn’t have and that’s timing.”

In another league game:

Westminster 2, Tustin 0--Chris Brewer scored three minutes into the first half for ninth-ranked Westminster and Edgar Campos scored in the 20th minute. This was Westminster’s 10th shutout in 14 games.