Sea Kings striving to be No. 1 in final

At the start of the season, one of the boys’ soccer teams Corona del Mar High Coach George Larsen said to look out for was La Mirada.

Larsen has never seen the Matadores play in person this season, but he knows the game of soccer is huge in La Mirada.

Larsen and the Sea Kings get to see the Matadores live for the first time Friday. The match will be the biggest in each of their respective program’s histories.

Top-seeded CdM plays La Mirada in the CIF Southern Section Division IV championship at Mission Viejo High at 7 p.m.

If you believe the Sea Kings’ 23-1-1 record is impressive, no team has figured a way to take down the Matadores this season. La Mirada is 23-0-4.

The first section final appearance for each school might arguably turn out to be the premier event out of the seven section championship games on the slate.

ESPN RISE ranks the Sea Kings ninth in the country. Of the 50 teams in the poll, only six are unbeaten. The Matadores, for some odd reason, aren’t included and no team has beaten them in 27 matches.

“We’re happy to be there,” Larsen said after CdM beat visiting North Torrance, 3-0, in the semifinals on Tuesday.

Many of CdM’s staff congratulated Larsen for taking the Sea Kings to the title game in his first year on the job. The last CdM coach to accomplish the feat, Ryan Schachter of the boys’ basketball team in 2006-07, wished Larsen good luck.

Larsen has reached this stage before as a coach. He is taking his third team to the section final. The previous two trips came as the Mission Viejo girls’ soccer coach in 1995-96 and 1997-98.

Each time, Larsen’s teams won Division I. The first one the Diablos shared the crown.

The latest road for Larsen to the finale has been remarkable. CdM has won 11 straight matches, a stretch in which it has shut out the opposition nine times and allowed just two goals.

Only one team has scored on the Sea Kings in four postseason games. It happened during CdM’s 4-1 first-round victory against Wilson of Hacienda Heights. Since then, the Sea Kings have outscored opponents, 6-0, half of the goals recorded by freshman sensation Jack McBean, a member of the U.S. Olympic Development Program under-15 team.

Suburban League runner-up La Mirada has fought its way into the championship. The quick counterattacking Matadores have slipped past the last three rounds by one goal each time, starting with a 2-1 victory against Estancia in the second round.

On Dec. 2, CdM traveled to Estancia and hammered the Eagles, 5-1. The Sea Kings and Matadores have another common opponent, Laguna Hills.

La Mirada defeated the host Hawks, 2-1, in the semifinals Tuesday. The Matadores led, 2-0, after one of their top threats, Daniel Ruvalcaba, and Garrett Hanneken recorded goals in the first half.

CdM opened Pacific Coast League play with Laguna Hills and it resulted in a scoreless tie on Jan 8. The Sea Kings competed without their leading scorer, UCLA-bound senior Reed Williams (28 goals, 12 assists), who was out with an injured right hamstring.

In the second match against Laguna Hills on Jan. 27, Williams played and he made a difference. The striker scored twice to lift the Sea Kings to a 2-0 victory.

CdM went on to claim the league title. The title it’s after now is the section one.

For junior midfielder Brian Ford, a high school title will give him the ultimate prize.

“My [Newport Beach-based Slammers Futbol Club] team has won Premier and won Surf Cup, and now if I win CIF, then it’s the triple crown,” said Ford, who is enjoying one of his finest seasons.

“It was definitely our goal [to win a section title]. We definitely had the talent to get here. I knew that we would get here. Now, that we’re here it feels really good.”