Girls soccer: CdM reigns supreme

Steve Virgen

IRVINE - Pity the Pacific Coast League. The Giant has awoken.

The Corona del Mar High girls soccer team stood tall after answering a

1-0 deficit with a resounding effort, leading to a 4-1 road victory over

Northwood Tuesday.

The Sea Kings (10-3-5, 2-0-2 in the PCL), the two-time defending PCL

champions who received chinks in the armor with two ties last week,

showed why they are the second-ranked team in CIF Southern Section

Division IV after the Timberwolves (4-5-3, 2-2-1) delivered a quick blow,

scoring four minutes into the contest.

“We came and had a job to do and we did it,” CdM Coach Ron Evans said.

“This dictates who’s going to take first place in the league. I’m real

proud of my team. They came and stepped up to the plate and did a great

job. We gave up the early goal and after that I thought we started to

take over.”

Eight minutes after Northwood scored its goal, the Sea Kings

retaliated with a goal from senior Kristin Hanson. The scoring play

started from midfield when junior Alivia Mazura, who led the Sea Kings

with two goals, won a ball from a Northwood player. She fired a pass to

junior Elisha Morgan, who headed the ball in front of junior Lauren

Shepherdson. Shepherdson crossed it over to Hanson in front of the net.

CdM continued to attack after the 1-1 tie, which led to Mazura’s two

goals before halftime. Three minutes after entering the game, senior

Allison Harvey, who had been nursing an injury suffered during rock

climbing this past weekend, assisted Mazura’s first score, a pass that

Mazura beat the Northwood goalkeeper for an open-net goal in the 31st

minute.

“I really regret not playing last year,” said Mazura, who sat out her

sophomore year after playing CdM varsity soccer as a freshman. “I’m

trying to make up for it. (Evans) told us, ‘We come out of this game,

we’re in first. If we lose we’re fourth,’ and that’s huge. Everyone came

out with their game face on. This is a game where you really have to play

with a lot of heart and get out there and win. This could really

determine the rest of our season.”

Mazura, who suffered a dislocated shoulder late November, scored again

in the final minute of the first half, after Harvey’s shot caromed off

the goalkeeper’s gloves and to Mazura, who booted it in to the back of

the net.

“This win says to people in the league, ‘We’re here to win it again,’

” said Harvey, who also mentioned she will sign her letter of intent to

play for Cal State Fullerton Feb. 1. “I wanted to play, but (Evans) kept

me out, so when I came in I wanted to show him that he should have

started me.”

Harvey, last year’s PCL co-Most Valuable Player, continued to show her

coach when she scored with four minutes left. Morgan, who started in her

first game since knee surgery in late November, struck for a shot that

led to a corner kick. Shepherdson booted a rolling ball that went through

Hanson’s legs and to Harvey, who struck for the goal.

“(Morgan is) getting back into her rhythm,” Evans said of his two-time

first-team All-CIF and all-league selection. “With each game you see

progression. She had three great shots.”

The Sea Kings outshot the Timberwolves, 21-8, as CdM’s defense

tightened its grip when faced with the 1-0 deficit. Freshman goalkeeper

Rachel Waters stopped four shots, while her CdM teammates Shepherdson,

juniors Paige Janes and Lauren Loe and sophomore Kinzie Kramer supported

in the back.

The defense created counterattacks and as a result Harvey, Morgan,

senior Jaclyn Thayer and junior Jenny Long produced shots and several

offensive threats.

CdM begins its second round of PCL play Thursday at 4:45 p.m., at

Laguna Beach.