Boys Grades 5-6: Mariners “D” stops Eastbluff, 3-1

COSTA MESA - Mariners Coach Randy Parole prides his team on defense

to ignite a rally.

And rally Mariners did to the tune of three goals, which proved to be

enough to stop Eastbluff, 3-1, in Friday’s Daily Pilot Cup action at The

Farm Complex in Costa Mesa.

“That is our whole philosophy, to play as much defense and our offense

will come around,” Parole said.

Parole stressed three things during his team’s four days of practice

leading up to the Pilot Cup.

“Defense, passing and spreading out on the field,” Parole said. “As

long as they do that, they’ll be fine.”

But it took awhile, until the 21st minute of the first half before

Clay Friend took the ball and ran all the way up the left side of the

field and booted the ball into the upper-right corner of the Eastbluff

net.

Both teams played especially tight defense throughout the first half,

with Mariners’ Brandon Parole using his head to deflect an Eastbluff

scoring chance.

Most of Eastbluff’s scoring opportunities came when Jeff Carlson,

who’s been playing soccer since he was 5, used his fancy dribbling skills

to split defenders and pass to the right or left sides of the field.

Both defenses showed the same aggressiveness in the second half as

Eastbluff’s Alfie Nowak made a stop on Mariners’ Peter Nguyen, which was

soon followed by Eastbluff’s Greg Wolonsky’s kick that hit the crossbar

on the net and dropped straight down into the net to make the score, 1-1.

But that was all the scoring Eastbluff would do on this day as Ben

Swift made a heads-up defensive play running to defend the net as the

Mariners’ goalie had to run out to stop an earlier shot. Swift used his

head to deflect a shot by Carlson.

The rest of Swift’s teammates seemingly used that play as motivation

as Garret Heiser booted a corner kick right to Clay Friend, who knocked

it in for his second goal of the game.

Friend was not done scoring however as he took an assist from Tobin

Olson and kicked the ball in for a 3-1 lead.

After the game, Mariners interim coach Kathy Carlson said she thought

her team and Eastbluff played well.

“(Eastbluff) played a good game,” Carlson said. “It’s fun to play

against other kids from the same neighborhood. We’ve had five kids that

have never played soccer before, so it’s exciting for them.”

Carlson substituted as Eastbluff coach because the regular coach,

Andrew Nowak, officiated the game because a referee didn’t show up when

the game started.