Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week: A happy return for CdM’s Munger
Everything appeared to be going right for the Corona del Mar High boys’ soccer team at the start of the season. The Sea Kings went unbeaten in their first three matches, and then a teammate ran into CdM’s best scoring threat, Blake Munger, while warming up for a match.
Munger doesn’t remember much about the elbow that struck him in the back of the head. After he went down, Munger rose to his feet, and then went toward the CdM sideline to check his bag like nothing had happened. Something didn’t seem right to Sea Kings Coach George Larsen. He observed an interaction Munger had with a teammate after the fluky collision.
“Hey, you’re all right?” the teammate asked Munger.
“What do you mean?” Munger said.
“You just hit your head,” the teammate said.
“I did?” Munger said.
“In warmup just now,” the teammate said.
“We just warmed up?” Munger said.
“Yeah, for the last 15 minutes you’ve been warming up,” the teammate said.
Munger didn’t get to play at Tesoro on Dec. 15 because he suffered a concussion before the nonleague affair began. The contest marked the first of seven straight Munger missed because of the concussion.
The Sea Kings dearly missed Munger. Without him in the lineup, they struggled, going 1-5-1.
The Sea Kings welcomed Munger back last week, in time for the Pacific Coast League opener against Irvine. The junior striker returned in a big way, scoring five goals in CdM’s 6-0 win at home.
“[His presence] not only effects the plays he’s making,” Larsen said, “but it brings confidence to the overall team knowing that you have your goal scorer out there.”
Munger wasted little time in making an impact for CdM, scoring in the fourth minute, then in the 14th, 18th, 49th and 57th minutes. Larsen took Munger out after his fifth goal gave CdM a 6-0 lead, not wanting to run up the score on an Irvine team that hadn’t won a league match since the 2012-13 season.
The Vaqueros have played CdM tough in the past, costing the Sea Kings a league title during the 2012-13 season. That season Irvine tied CdM, 1-1, and the Vaqueros last triumph in league came in a 1-0 result at CdM on Feb. 1, 2013.
If not for those two results, CdM might have claimed the past three league championships. The Sea Kings won the title last season, going 8-0-2, and they finished first three seasons ago.
Despite losing 25 seniors to graduation, Munger believes CdM can make another run at a league crown.
The team is beginning to get healthy. Key players such as Munger, midfielder Alex Rihm, striker Jack Tomei and right back Paris Mamatas have sat out multiple matches due to a variety of ailments, and goalkeeper Hagen Truninger is now eligible to play since transferring from JSerra.
Since his return, Munger has recorded at least a goal in the Sea Kings’ three league matches, including the game-winner in a 2-1 win at University on Thursday.
“It was like one of the worst feelings to be on the bench,” Munger said of having to sit out with a concussion. “There was no chance you could have an effect on the outcome.”
Munger is making up for lost time. He has eight goals in six contests for CdM (5 -6-2, 2-1-0 in league). The type of production is not bad for a player who went into the season never having found the back of the net on varsity.
Blake Munger
Born: Oct. 19, 1997
Hometown: Newport Beach
Height: 5-foot-10
Weight: 135 pounds
Sport: Soccer
Year: Junior
Coach: George Larsen
Favorite food: Steak
Favorite movie: “The Other Guys”
Favorite athletic moment: Scoring a goal in the Irvine Strikers under-16 team’s 2-0 win in the Nomads tournament final in San Diego two years ago.
Week in review: Munger scored five goals in the Sea Kings’ 6-0 win against Irvine in a Pacific Coast League opener at home.
