Eagles Earn 1-1 Tie in League Opener

For a long time it seemed that the goal scored by Eagle Rock’s Andre Cousineau, in his season debut, and the extraordinary goaltending by Alexandro Cruz, would be enough for an Eagles' victory.

But a late goal by Roybal’s Oscar Baca tied the score and that’s the way it ended as and the Titans played to a 1-1 tie in the Northern League opener for both teams in a game played at Eagle Rock’s Don Mengel Field on Tuesday afternoon.

Cousineau gave Eagle Rock an early lead when he scored about five minutes into the contest after taking a pass from senior midfielder Alejandro Jimenez.

The goal came on a play the Eagles practiced during the two-week winter break.

“It was a tactic we were working on, and it paid off,” Eagle Rock coach Joel Rizo said.

After that Eagle Rock (1-1-3, 0-0-1 in the Northern League) was somewhat back on its heels, having to stave off more Roybal attacks than it was able to generate.

Among the many key plays that Cruz made came when a shot from 15 yards away late in the first half looked destined to find the back of the net.

Cruz made a diving save to his right to keep Eagle Rock ahead, 1-0. Several times, Cruz came out of the goal to thwart off Roybal attackers. On one occasion when a Titan got to the ball first the Eagles' goalie saved it with his foot as he slid toward the shot.

“He’s excellent,” Rizo said. “Today, if I were to select our player of the game, it would be Alex.”

Rizo also praised the play of midfielders Edgar Menedez and David Rodriguez.

“But after that goal we went back to our usual system,” Rizo said.

By that, Rizo meant the Eagles were too passive on the offensive end of the field.

“It is one of the things we’ve tried to mend,” he said. “We try to defend (too much). We need to attack more. Our forwards need to move more.”

To remedy that, Rizo said, the Eagles may have to shake up their lineup a little bit.

Cousineau, a four-year player who was seeing his first action this season, said the Eagles were fortunate to survive with a tie.

“We got kind of lucky because (Roybal) didn’t take their chances — and they had plenty of them,” Cousineau said. “It was difficult (for us) to remain consistent.

“But it’s our first game and I think we did a good job and we can only improve. It’s better than ending up with a loss.”