Familiar exit for CdM

PALOS VERDES ESTATES — Midway through the Pacific Coast League campaign, the Corona del Mar High girls’ soccer team sat in fourth place. It looked like the Sea Kings could be just Coach Bryan Middleton’s second squad in his 14-year tenure to fail to qualify for the CIF playoffs.

That CdM instead bounced back to finish second in league and become Middleton’s seventh team to advance to the CIF quarterfinals says much for the resolve of this year’s team.

“I think we just kind of realized, ‘Wow, we’re not going to make it, this is going to be terrible,’” senior captain Ally Doherty said. “Everyone just brought their ‘A’ game after that.”

But getting to the quarterfinals is one thing. Winning once reaching the final eight is something that continues to elude CdM.

Corona del Mar’s season ended Thursday afternoon as it fell at Palos Verdes, 1-0, in a CIF Southern Section Division 2 quarterfinal match. In losing the battle of the Sea Kings, Middleton fell to 0-7 in CIF quarterfinal games since he took over the program in 2002-03.

The last time that CdM made the CIF semifinals was the year before that, in Division 4. All of the setbacks under Middleton have come at a higher level, in Division 1 or 2.

“It’s always the toughest game, obviously, for me and my program to get through,” said Middleton, who understandably preferred to talk about the gutsy nature of this year’s CdM squad, which was not ranked in Division 2 for most of the season.

“As a whole, extremely proud of the girls,” said Middleton, whose team upset No. 4-seeded Westlake, 1-0, on the road in a second-round match Tuesday. “There were a lot of people at the beginning of the season who doubted this group would reach this level. To make the quarterfinals, the final eight of D2 is huge. We were the 16th seed making it to the final eight, and we proved a lot of people wrong. So I’m proud of the girls for that and for working extremely hard.

“This senior group really showed the younger group of girls how to team bond this year and build the program up, keep it strong. We’re going to stay strong for the future by their senior leadership this year.”

It was a freshman for Palos Verdes (18-4-2) that provided the game’s only goal. Sydney Sharp took the pass from Palos Verdes junior Jessica Lazo near the top of the box in the 10th minute. Guarded one-on-one, she was able to get separation. The defender fell down before Sharp blasted her team-best 11th goal into the lower left corner.

From the sidelines, Palos Verdes Coach Sean Lockhart could see his players’ nerves settle a bit after taking the early lead.

“[Sharp] posted up on that girl and was able to turn her and get that chance,” said Lockhart, who has Palos Verdes in the semifinals for the second time in his nine-year tenure. “She did a great job of finishing it, to be honest. I had a feeling coming into this game it was going to be a 1-0 game because we’ve heard about their goalkeeper and how organized they were defensively. I knew it was going to be a very, very close game.”

Sharp also had another great chance for the Bay League champions in the second half, after weaving through CdM defenders in the box. But her low shot from point-blank range was handled by CdM senior keeper Kat Hess (four saves) in the 58th minute.

After Sharp’s early goal, the CdM defense, featuring players like Hailey Neumann, Caroline Bethel, Julie Bartz, Katharine Caston and Doherty, was stout. And Elizabeth Lamie, Leah Givant, Ashley Maloney and Ava and Alyssa McKenzie worked hard to get the ball toward the PV goal.

But CdM (11-8-7) failed to create any real quality scoring chances, not registering a shot on goal. Some of CdM’s best looks came when Doherty was tripped up outside the box, but the free kicks in didn’t generate anything.

“Maybe some weary legs from such a battle on Tuesday up at Westlake,” Middleton said. “But I’m not looking for any excuses. It just wasn’t our day today.”

Credit Palos Verdes’ defense of goalie Brooke Litman and the back four of Erin McCann, Jillian Arriola, Natasa Eleftheriou and Cassidy Najarian. Four of the five players are seniors other than Arriola, who’s a sophomore. They have helped Palos Verdes post three shutouts in the first three rounds of the playoffs.

Hess knew it would be tough for CdM to score.

“They have a really strong back line,” Hess said. “[McCann, bound for Syracuse] is on my current [SoCal Blues club] team and [Eleftheriou] is on a team from before.”

CdM’s defense also played strong, allowing just one goal in the first three rounds of CIF. But that goal by Sharp on Wednesday was enough to knock CdM out of the playoffs.

Doherty, one of four senior captains along with Hess, Bethel and forward Maddie Binder, said she had no regrets with the way things turned out.

“We picked ourselves up and did what it took to get here,” Doherty said. “I think we worked our butts off to get here. It just wasn’t our day today. I’m still proud of the team, because no one really expected us to get this far .... Even though it’s a loss, we’re still a family.”

Palos Verdes, ranked No. 5 in the final Division 2 poll, will play host to Newbury Park in a Division 2 semifinal Tuesday. Newbury Park upset top-seeded Troy, 1-0, in another quarterfinal match.