Boys’ Soccer: No repeat for CdM
TUSTIN — Around the time the Corona del Mar High boys’ soccer team began its match on Tuesday, its shot at repeating as Pacific Coast League champion took a hit. The first-place team the Sea Kings were chasing was Woodbridge, and the Warriors won, 2-1, at Irvine High, not far from where CdM played Beckman at night.
Going into the contest, the Sea Kings shared second place with Beckman. Now they find themselves out of second and with no chance of finishing first.
The Sea Kings suffered a devastating 2-1 setback to the Patriots at Tustin High. Beckman, not CdM, is playing for the league title in a regular-season finale on Thursday.
The Patriots roared back from a 1-0 deficit, getting two second-half goals. The game-winning goal came on a penalty kick in stoppage time, and Beckman is on the verge of winning its first league title in school history.
Jack Wasserman drew the penalty kick when CdM’s Will Hunter grabbed him in the box. As David Lee lined up to take the PK, Beckman Coach Eddie Bairam turned his back to the field, saying, “I can’t watch.”
From the sounds his players on the bench and his players on the pitch made, Bairam knew Lee beat goalkeeper Hagen Truninger. The Patriots were on their way to remaining unbeaten in league.
Beckman, which is 3-0-6 in league with 12 points, has one more match left, at Tustin High against Woodbridge (6-2-1 in league), which leads the Patriots by one point. If Beckman wins, the Patriots are the champions.
The Patriots not only knocked defending league champion CdM (4-3-2) out of contention, but they also dropped the Sea Kings from second to fourth. The Sea Kings are on the outside looking in when it comes to making the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs. Only the top three teams in league earn postseason berths.
“We couldn’t quite get that second goal,” CdM Coach George Larsen said. “They come back and equalize [in the 59th minute on Nikdel Ghaemi’s goal], and then obviously the referee makes a decision there in injury time to give them the game. The game had been called a certain way. [Wasserman’s] still on the ball and playing at that point, so to basically interrupt the flow of the play at that point and decide that you’re going to reward that obviously is not a call you’re going to see very often. But he did call it and I guess we’re going to have to live with it.
“We’re just going to have to recover off of this one. Not just losing, but losing in the way [we did]. The way you got to take this is you feel you got robbed. You feel like the referees interfered with the result of the game. It’s a tough outcome, so they’re going to have to take this and be able to compose themselves, but at the same time come with a chip on their shoulder. If they really want in [the playoffs], then they’re going to have to go take it.”
The Sea Kings qualify for the postseason with a win on the road against Northwood (4-2-3) on Thursday at 3:15 p.m. They trail the Timberwolves by one point, so the Sea Kings must win to clinch at least third place.
In the first meeting between the two schools, Northwood prevailed at CdM, 2-1, on Jan. 22. Two of the Sea Kings’ three setbacks in league have come away from home.
The latest one ruined CdM’s attempt at claiming its third league title in the last four seasons. The Sea Kings appeared in control midway through the first half. They went ahead on Paris Mamatas’ goal, which Blake Munger assisted on after beating two defenders.
The lead almost grew to two in the 57th minute. CdM’s Jack Tomei blasted a shot from outside the box and UC Berkeley-bound keeper Noah Texter was able to get his gloves on it, deflecting it upward and toward the goal, where he caught it close to the goal line.
“I had to rattle my head against the post to keep it out,” said Texter, who finished with 10 saves. “I knew it didn’t go in, but the ref had to stop the play because he was concerned about my head.”