Soccer team nets another victory

Boys boosts record to 6-1 with victory over Beckman. Northwood is up next.A second half surge Wednesday was enough to secure another Pacific Coast League triumph for the Laguna Beach High boys’ soccer team.

By opening up its arsenal in the second half, which included using the give-and-go and chip passes, the Breakers posted four goals and shut down visiting Beckman, 5-0.

The win improved Laguna’s league record to 6-1 and overall mark to 11-3-1. This victory pushes the Breakers back into first-place in the league standings. They face a tough test today against host Northwood at Meadowood Park.

The Breakers took a 1-0 halftime lead on the strength of a goal 20 minutes into the match by senior Derek LeBon, who scored for a team-best 12th time this year.

After intermission, Laguna came out “on fire,” coach Giovanni Vlahos said.

Three minutes into the second half, senior Chris DeVries scored his second goal of the year. DeVries came forward from his defensive position, worked his way to beat to Beckman defenders to the ball and then slapped the ball into the net.

Just two minutes later, senior Behrang Ziaeian came down the right wing and slipped, untouched, the ball past the Beckman defenders to score his second goal of the year to make it 3-0.

The goals by DeVries and Ziaeian were set up by the unselfish play of LeBon.

Junior Anthony Awadalla, who hasn’t had much playing time at forward this year, scored the final two goals.

“He was like a man possessed out there,” Vlahos said of Awadalla. “He went to every ball and did everything that I asked of him. And it paid off not only for him but for the team.”

One of Awadalla’s goals came courtesy of an assist from senior Brenden Hexberg. The second goal was set up by a header coming from a corner kick by Roman Fricker.

“Hexberg has been making a habit of distributing the ball and being unselfish this year,” Vlahos said. “He’s already notched his sixth assist of the year.”

The shutout was the fifth of the season for Laguna, with senior Simon Kardos protecting the net Wednesday. He had three saves and got his second shutout.

“I was really proud of my teams intensity and level of play tonight,” Vlahos said. “Coming off a loss to Tesoro, a coach always wants to play the next game as quickly as possible so we can get back to our winning ways. Unfortunately we had to wait five days, but the wait was well worth it.”

In a previous matchup, Laguna suffered its first league setback when visiting Tesoro held on for a 1-0 victory before a large, supportive crowd at Guyer Field. The game was marred by several yellow cards issued against both teams, Vlahos said.

“There was a buzz in our stadium long before the game started as fans started to pack it in,” he said. “We had an amazing crowd show up from both sides to show their support. I was really impressed with our schools student support this game. Made me proud.”

The called fouls, however, didn’t.

“We had more yellow cards and fouls called against us in this game then all 12 previous games combined,” he said. “What should have been an amazing battle turned out to be a slow-paced game that had no flare to it.”

In girls’ soccer:

On Wednesday, Laguna fell to Beckman. Previously, the Breakers dropped an 8-0 match to Tesoro, which is ranked fourth in Division II.20060127itobrencDON LEACH / COASTLINE PILOT(LA)Laguna’s Derek LeBon tries to get a shot off against the Tesoro defense.20060127itobqmncDON LEACH / COASTLINE PILOT(LA)Laguna’s Brenden Hexberg, right, controls ball in Jan. 20 game.