RIVERSIDE — Kevin Watson gave his players donuts in the morning and the Lions responded with a shutout on Senior Night.
Goalkeeper Diego Martinez made several sprawling saves early in the second half, and senior Angel Valencia scored two late goals as Arlington wrapped up the River Valley League title with a 4-0 win over Norte Vista on Monday night.
“We’ve been tough on them but this week we’ve totally flipped it, and I bought them donuts this morning to maybe just relax us a little bit and remind us what really matters is the group as a whole,” Watson said.
Garcia came into the game as a substitute in the 74th minute and produced two headed goals in the final five minutes as Arlington (20-0-1 overall, 8-0-1 in league) extended a school-record unbeaten streak with its second consecutive win over Norte Vista.
“This feels amazing. Scoring and celebrating with my teammates and my family here,” Valencia said. “This means a lot to me, to the team and to the community, but we’re not focused on the streak, just the next game ahead.”
Jacob Arellano scored in the first half for Arlington, and the Lions absorbed loads of pressure to begin the second half as Norte Vista went looking for an equalizer, whipping balls into dangerous areas and forcing darting saves from Martinez.
“In those little spells, Diego did what he was supposed to do,” Watson said. “And we’ve been challenging him where if we’re going to go far in (the Division 1 playoffs) then we’re going to need a goalkeeper that can make some big-time saves and up one-nil he did that. “
Senior Nate Hylton assisted Jesus Palma as Arlington broke the pressure for a 2-0 lead in the 59th minute, and CBU-bound senior Daniel Hernandez added two assists and now has 21 goals and 20 assists this season.
It’s the second consecutive defeat in the series for Norte Vista (9-6-5, 5-3-1), winless in its last five matches against Arlington and now 4-4-4 overall vs. the Lions since 2017.
“There was an inability to put one in the back of the net, that’s it,” Norte Vista coach Matt Beliveau said. “If you don’t finish your chances you can’t put much pressure on.”
“People are going to look at the score and say, ‘Norte Vista got blown out,’ but we started three sophomores so I see something a little different,” Beliveau added.
Norte Vista has qualified for the CIF Southern Section playoffs each of the last 17 seasons dating to 2007.