Boys soccer: CdM keeps progressing

Barry Faulkner

FOUNTAIN VALLEY - It was fitting, perhaps, that the Corona del Mar

High boys soccer team’s lone goal in a 3-1 nonleague loss at Fountain

Valley Friday came in extra time.

After all, the Sea Kings, coming off a 2-14-1 campaign that did not

include a Pacific Coast League victory, still need more time to become

the PCL title contender second-year coach Pat Callaghan believes it will

be.

“We’re not a team that can compete with one of the best teams in

Division I right now,” Callaghan said of the Barons, who improved to

6-0-1. “But this was a game we were in. We weren’t in this game last

year.”

The Sea Kings (3-3) used some spirited defense to stay in the game the

entire first half, breaking up promising Fountain Valley scoring chances

and developing a few of their own.

“I thought we had a real good first half,” said Callaghan, whose

chances were weakened when senior starting goalkeeper Geoff Collier

(sternum) and sophomore center midfielder Cerutti (foot) were sidelined

in the first 29 minutes by injuries.

Fountain Valley, which outshot the visitors, 11-3, before halftime,

finally broke through when senior co-captain Sean Illif caromed a

crossing shot off the post and back into the net for a 1-0 lead.

CdM sustained another huge loss two minutes into the second half, when

senior sweeper Andy Almquist, a first-team All-PCL performer and the team

MVP as a junior, limped to the bench with a severe contusion on the

inside of his lower-left leg.

The hosts continued to apply pressure to the Sea Kings’ depleted

defense and put the game away with two goals within a six-minute span.

Brett Kersten cashed in a cross by teammate Sean Keeley to double the

lead in the 55th minute, then Brad Granger booted in a rebound after CdM

junior keeper Phil Stemler stopped an Iliff header for one of his five

saves.

Playing hard to the end, however, CdM began to create scoring chances

down the stretch. Chris Ringstrom, Brandon Zarian, Tristan Harris and

Aldo Bautista all boomed shots in the final five minutes of regulation,

before Bautista directed a Brett Luchesi pass into the upper right corner

from about 15 yards out to avert the shutout.

“That goal helped us feel a little better about ourselves,” Callaghan

said.

CdM finished with 10 shots, to the Barons’ 16, and Fountain Valley’s

Kyle Polak was credited with four saves.

Despite the loss, Callaghan remains encouraged by his team’s progress.

“(Fountain Valley) is a really good team, but we came out aggressively

today and played hard,” Callaghan said. “I didn’t think we did enough

with the ball when we had possession in the attacking zone. You have to

take better advantage of those opportunities against a good team like

that.

“We already have one more win than we did all of last year and I don’t

think we’ve played our best soccer yet. We need to get healthy and I

think we can have a great season.”

Almquist, before his injury, was a defensive standout and Blake

Dillion contributed solid play on the back line in the second half.

The Sea Kings will play their next game, in the post-Christmas Trabuco

Hills Tournament, without sophomore Danny Whitaker, who was involved in a

brief second-half shoving match that resulted in red cards for both

players.