Boys soccer: CdM settles for tie

Tony Altobelli

CORONA DEL MAR - For 60 minutes, the Corona del Mar High boys

soccer team controlled just about every phase of the game against

visiting Laguna Beach Friday.

From the 61st minute on, however, the visiting Artists took control of

the situation and salvaged a 3-3 Pacific Coast League tie.

The Sea Kings.(2-11-1, 0-4-1 in league) led, 3-0, on two goals by

senior Scott Baker and one goal from junior Andy Almquist, before Laguna

Beach rallied for three goals in the final 20 minutes, much to the dismay

of CdM Coach Pat Callaghan.

“Right now, I’m kind of at a loss for words,” Callaghan said. “We were

up, 3-0, and we were in great shape. I think our guys lost our focus and

some composure down the stretch. It’s a shame, because we played a great,

great game out there.”

The turning point of the game came in the 70th minute. With CdM

leading, 3-1, the Artists sent a ball deep in to the CdM zone. Goalie

Geoff Collier made the sliding save, but a Laguna player was pulled down

by another CdM player in the goal box area.

After some discussion with the linesman, the referee gave the CdM

player a red card and awarded a penalty kick to the Artists. Ryan Wolfe

converted to cut the lead to 3-2, giving Laguna Beach plenty of momentum

to take advantage of their man advantage (red-carded players are ejected

and can’t be substituted for).

“I can’t blame the referees for this tie,” Callaghan said. “Our guys

need to maintain focus when something like that happens.”

Six minutes later, Austen Ezzell snuck a goal past the diving Collier

to tie the game for the Artists (6-7-2, 1-3-1).

“We’re a young team and we’re learning out there,” Callaghan said.

“We’re gaining a lot of experience and if we continue to play hard, we’ll

keep improving. I’m looking forward to seeing these guys continue to grow

not only this year, but years to come.”

Almquist opened the scoring in the 18th minute, finding the

lower-right corner of the goal on a free kick. Laguna Beach goalie Pouya

Pezeshkpour slipped in the mud as the shot eluded his outstretched

fingers.

The Artists had four nice opportunities to tie the game in the first

half, but Collier (nine saves) kept CdM out in front.

“Geoff’s been doing real well for us,” Callaghan said. “He’s working

real hard and he, like the rest of the team, is getting better with each

game.”

Laguna Beach had the first scoring opportunity of the second half when

Ezzell ripped a shot that clanged off the crossbar. Wolfe tried to tip in

the rebound, but Collier sprawled on top of the loose ball.

Freshman Julien Cerutti sparked CdM’s second goal in the 54th minute

when he broke free and drove up the field. He fed the ball to Shogo

Fujii, who then sent a nice cross pass over to Baker, who slammed the

ball into a near-empty goal for a 2-0 advantage.

Again, Laguna Beach had a great chance to score, but Almquist hustled

back on an Artists’ two-on-one opportunity and broke up the play.

“Andy is a very versatile player for us,” Callaghan said. “He can play

any number of positions and does a great job at all of them.”

In the 55th minute, CdM made it 3-0 when Baker headed in a corner from

Cerutti.

“What gave us the lead was sound fundamental defense,” Callaghan said.

“Jon-Luke Del Fante and Brandon Zarian each did a good job defensively

for us. We were patient with the ball and we executed in the offensive

third of the field. We were opportunistic, but, at the same time, we were

patient and in control.”

Laguna Beach finally got on the scoreboard when Pablo Hernandez scored

off a nice touch pass from Wolfe in the 61st minute.

Despite the goal, CdM appeared to still have the game in hand, but the

Artists kept pushing forward.

“I guess based on what has happened in the past few games, a tie isn’t

too bad,” Callaghan said. “We’re more and more competitive out there and

I’m excited about that. We’ll get there.”