HART'S QUICK STUDY ESQUIVEL ALREADY HAS EIGHT SHUTOUTS AS 1ST-YEAR GOALIE.Byline: Matthew Kredell Staff Writer Jose Esquivel's goalkeeping experience before this season consisted of half a game and playing around in practice. Yet, Hart coach Robert Ciccone was so confident in Esquivel, he let him play in his normal midfield mid·field n. Sports 1. The section of a playing field midway between goals. 2. Players whose usual positions are in the midfield. mid position for most of the preleague schedule, not once starting at goalie. But when the league season began, it was Esquivel's time. He has started eight Foothill League games for the Hart boys' soccer team, and they all have been shutouts. ``I expected everything to be kind of rough,'' Esquivel said. ``I didn't know what to expect. But I'm hanging in there.'' He's doing more than that. At the beginning of the season, league coaches discussed the lack of the usual standout goalkeeper For the close-in weapon system, see . In many team sports, a goalkeeper (termed goaltender, netminder, goalie, or keeper in some sports) is a designated player that is charged with directly preventing the opposite team from scoring by defending the . Hart had been looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a goalie since Kyle Reynish Kyle Reynish (born Novemebr 3, 1983 in Valencia, California) is an American soccer goal keeper, who currently plays for Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer. Reynish played college soccer for University of California Santa Barbara from 2002-2006, sitting out between his freshman graduated two years ago. Reynish, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound keeper now at UC Santa Barbara Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. , was a polished player who seemingly seem·ing adj. Apparent; ostensible. n. Outward appearance; semblance. seem  ing·ly adv. was born for the position.
That made it more shocking to Esquivel on Thursday when Ciccone announced at a team dinner that Esquivel already had broken Reynish's school record of six league shutouts. That was before Hart and Esquivel shut out Burroughs of Burbank 2-0 Friday. As his teammates congratulated him, he immediately passed along the credit. ``They're the ones not giving up anything back there,'' Esquivel said. ``Most of the time, it doesn't even come down to me. It starts with the forwards, to the midfield, to the defense. I'm the last resort.'' Hart does have the Foothill League's best defense. Ciccone estimates that in three games, Esquivel hardly needed to do anything. But in four games he has made big plays. ``He's been doing an absolutely great job,'' forward Devin Del Do said. ``We really didn't know what to do with our goalkeeping situation coming into the season. To have him step in and do a great job has helped us tremendously.'' It all started with his propensity to play around in practice. Ciccone spotted Esquivel trying to guard the goal from his teammates in practice occasionally and remembered it when last season's keeper was injured in·jure tr.v. in·jured, in·jur·ing, in·jures 1. To cause physical harm to; hurt. 2. To cause damage to; impair. 3. and had to miss a game. Esquivel played for one half in his place, then Ciccone asked him to try the goal again during summer practice. ``I was really impressed im·press 1 tr.v. im·pressed, im·press·ing, im·press·es 1. To affect strongly, often favorably: with his performance,'' Ciccone said. ``I'll never forget one save he made where he flew from one post to the other. That made me think he could play the goal for me in tough games. He's proving himself so far.'' Esquivel was nervous at first, but took comfort and support from the team's strong defense. The first few games passed and he hardly was challenged. Then the shutouts began piling up. Ciccone worries about the seemingly inevitable time when Esquivel will give up a goal, and if he will be able to find the mental state to move past it. ``I tell him before every game if they score a goal don't let down,'' Ciccone said. ``He hasn't gone through that yet.'' Maybe he never will. Nobody ever expected him to go this far. Thoughts of aspiring as·pire intr.v. as·pired, as·pir·ing, as·pires 1. To have a great ambition or ultimate goal; desire strongly: aspired to stardom. 2. for more than a perfect league record have begun to creep in Verb 1. creep in - enter surreptitiously; "He sneaked in under cover of darkness"; "In this essay, the author's personal feelings creep in" sneak in penetrate, perforate - pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance; "The bullet penetrated her chest" for Hart, which has two games this week to wrap up the regular season. ``We're aiming for that,'' Esquivel said. ``Going 10-0 in league was our original goal, but doing it with 10 shutouts would be something special. Like our coach and captains say, 'We're just going to get focused Get Focused is a Christian youth festival started in 2001 in Tønsberg, Norway. The festival had 1500 visitors in 2005, and the British Christian-rock band Delirious? performed. Get Focused is a cooperation of the local youth groups in the Tønsberg area in Vestfold, Norway. and take it game by game.' '' Matthew Kredell, (818)713-3607 matthew.kredell(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) In just eight games as Hart's starting goalie, Jose Esquivel has broken the school league shutout record of six. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News (2 -- color) ESQUIVEL |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion