Lime with a little twist

Barry Faulkner

Though the third- and fourth-grade boys soccer team from Our Lady

Queen of Angels has never won the Daily Pilot Cup, perhaps, now, the

competition should begin to fear the florescent green.

Dressed in loud lime-colored T-shirts, Our Lady rolled past Kaiser

No. 1 by a 5-2 verdict in Saturday’s quarterfinal at the Costa Mesa

Farm Complex.

Nick Potter scored the final four goals to pace the attack,

propelling the winners into today’s 9:30 a.m. semifinal against

Harbor Day.

Michael Haeri opened the scoring in the first minute for Our Lady

Queen of Angels, who led, 4-0, before Kaiser cracked the scoring

column.

Then, Potter scored twice within a one-minute span eight minutes

into the contest. He fired a 15-yard bullet across the net to the far

post from about 15 yards out, then juked a defender and continued on

with the ball down the right side, finishing a long solo run with a

shot inside the near post.

Our Lady goalie Parker Reuter made three saves, including a diving

stop late in the first half that preserved a 3-0 halftime lead, while

Jonathan Walsh anchored the back line to keep Kaiser contained.

Potter scored again early in the second 30-minute half, converting

a cross from Haeri by, once again, shooting across the goal into the

left corner of the net.

With a 4-0 lead and the game apparently in hand, Haeri was

dismissed early so he could rush off to his baseball game.

Kaiser then closed to within 4-2 with goals by Aaron Cervantes and

Joel Vascomcelos, but Potter booted home a direct kick from about 25

yards out to finalize the scoring for Our Lady Queen of Angels,

co-coached by the mother-daughter tandem of Karen and Jessica Potter.

Jessica Potter, a sophomore on the Mater Dei High varsity team

last season, said her team played its best game of the tournament.

Our Lady tied Mariners, 4-4, then defeated Mariners Christian, 1-0,

in pool play, advancing as pool champion over Mariners by virtue of

one fewer goal allowed.

Karen Potter concurred, adding that the players seem to be moving

better as a team at both ends of the field.

Kevin Cortez made five first-half saves for Kaiser, before giving

way to Aaron White, who stopped three shots, including a one-handed

save in which he deflected the ball just outside the right goalpost

early in the second half.

Nolan Mena was a catalyst for Kaiser, coached by Gerardo Jimenez.

The Knights advanced out of their pool by defeating St. John the

Baptist, 4-3, then topping St. Joachim, 3-1.

Chris Haas, Jack Presson, Colin McNerney, Eric Zamucen, Mitchell

Meleski, Brecht Van’t Hof, Kent Smith and Anthony Francisco also

contributed to the victory for Our Lady Queen of Angels.

*

In other boys 3-4 action:

* Lincoln (No. 1) def. Andersen on penalty-kick shootout: The

teams had identical pool records, each having beaten Rea, 6-0, and

tied when they played each other. That set up a penalty-kick shootout

to determine which team would advance to the quarterfinals. Lincoln

beat Andersen in the shootout when Kjell Wolker, Nick Gooding, Nick

Curci and J.D. Dawn each drilled their penalty kicks into the back of

the net. Lincoln goalie Andrew McCormack stopped two Andersen shots

to secure the win.

* Harbor Day 2, Lincoln (No. 1) 1: In a quarterfinal, Harbor Day

jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead but Lincoln fought back in the second

half when Gooding launched a 25-yard shot past the Harbor Day goalie.

Lincoln mounted a furious rally in the last few minutes, but Harbor

Day was able to withstand the onslaught and preserve the win. Lincoln

coaches Gunnar Gooding and John Curci praised the effort of both

teams stating, “Our kids fought hard and represented Lincoln well.

We’re proud of them and we wish Harbor Day luck in the semis.”