River Valley soccer rolls on

With just Thursday's game at home against Monterey Trail remaining before league play, the River Valley High boys soccer team is flying high.

The Falcons (4-0-1) remained unbeaten on the season with a 3-2 win over visiting Mira Loma on Tuesday, collecting goals from three different players.

"We can't wait for league," River Valley coach Matt Scarfe said. "We only won a couple of games last year."

The Falcons went 2-12-6 overall and 2-11-4 in the Tri-County Conference last season. But with the positive record so far this fall, River Valley is hoping to do a lot of damage once TCC play begins on Sept. 29.

The modest Scarfe, meanwhile, remained mum on how the Falcons might do this season, refusing to speculate despite repeated proddings.

"Our offense really is starting to jell, come together," he did concede, noting that Jesus Angulo, Khalid Rahim and Jordan Vida are starting to work well up top, especially with midfielder Ethan Gutierrez.

River Valley jumped out to a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the Mira Loma game when Rahim scored off a pass from Angulo. Angulo made a long run up the middle, sidestepping several defenders before passing the ball ahead to Rahim. Rahim then went one-on-one with the Matador goalie, slipping the ball past him.

That goal held up for the rest of the first half despite a number of scoring opportunities by both squads. Mira Loma (5-5-1) didn't do much offensively until the final few minutes of the half, when the Matadors had three shots on goal denied.

On the first of those shots, Falcons goalie Felipe Rodriguez slapped away a corner kick. On the second, a free kick from 47 yards out, Rodriguez punched the ball over the crossbar. On the third, Mira Loma's Bryce Campbell headed a corner kick over the crossbar.

"We also had quite a few chances in the first half but couldn't connect," Scarfe said. The best opportunity came when Angulo's shot on goal from the right side banged off the left upright and stopped dead on the line right in front of the cage. Mira Loma came out and tied the game, 1-1, 12 minutes into the second half.

"They really have some good shooters," Scarfe said, referring to Bryce and Winston Campbell and Kevin Scruggs.

Bryce Campbell scored the tying goal after a long run, positioning the ball just inside the right post.

Eight minutes later, the Falcons broke the stalemate when Gutierrez scored from 25 yards out, after taking a pass back from Angulo.

Edgar Aguirre scored River Valley's final goal 23 minutes into the second half off a header, after Yosa Figueroa centered the ball perfectly.

"That's Yosa's first game back since he broke his foot," Scarfe said. "He did a great job."

Mira Loma kept battling and recorded its final goal with a minute remaining. Bryce Campbell slipped behind the defense and took a shot from the right side that sailed over the goalie's head.

Defensively, sweeper Ivan Sanchez, Zac Quilty, Mandeep Bajwa and Zach Shelby led River Valley.

Contact sports reporter Richard Myers at 749-4714 or rmyers@appeal-democrat.com