Throw-in thrusts CdM to victory

Bryce Alderton

Launch would be an accurate description of Courtney Carnahan’s

throw-ins.

The Corona del Mar High senior zeroed in on her target and floated

a ball that bounced once, hit a Newport Harbor player and rolled to

sophomore Taylor Fallon, who sent home the game-winner giving the

host Sea Kings a 2-1 nonleague victory over their Back Bay rivals.

“I wanted to get it as high as possible. I wanted to win so bad,”

Carnahan, who is battling a left ankle she injured in the season

opener, said. “It is throbbing.”

Fallon said she saw the ball sail from the moment it left

Carnahan’s hands and followed its flight.

“[Kelly] Morgan headed it and it bounced to the ground,” Fallon

said. “I saw the ball and I knew it was going into the net.”

“The defensive strategy was to mark up, but we didn’t do that,”

Newport Coach Brandie Hayungs said. “That has been the story all

year. We score and then have a letdown.”

The goal came with two minutes remaining in regulation and seven

minutes after Newport’s Julia Bernay beat CdM goalkeeper Katie

Schiesser with a blast into the right side of the net for the tying

score, causing CdM Coach Bryan Middleton to throw his water bottle to

the ground in disgust. Bernay took a cross from senior forward

Barbara Julian, with assistance from sophomore defender Stephanie

Lambrakis.

“After the first goal we stepped up and still knew what we had to

do -- like passing to the feet,” Carnahan said.

The Sailors (0-7-1) caught the Sea Kings (3-4-1) in a lull,

allowing for the tying goal, Middleton said.

“If you are ball watching for a second, the opponent can score and

that happened,” Middleton said. “I felt a majority of the game we

dominated with the forwards in the box. We were flat the first 10

minutes.”

The Sea Kings, who ended Newport’s two-game winning streak in the

series, warmed up to finish the final 30 minutes of the first half

with 10 shots, but the game remained scoreless until the 47th minute.

Sophomore Jessica Mazura’s free kick from about 25 yards out

landed inside the box and forward Rachel Yelsey booted the ball into

the net to give the Sea Kings the lead.

The Sailors managed 10 shots -- five in each half -- while the Sea

Kings were held to four shots in the second half.

CdM dodged a bullet after scoring its first goal when Newport

junior Tayler Giacomaro’s 22-yard free kick sailed over the goal

guarded by Schiesser, who made four saves.

Newport senior goalkeeper Kara DeMille made six saves, including a

leaping deflection of a 20-yard boot by Fallon in the second half.

DeMille turned away successive shots by CdM’s Morgan, Ali Torres

(header) and midfielder Tanisha Senaratne in the middle of the first

half. Senaratne’s blast from 12 yards out minutes later hit the

crossbar.

Sophomores Krystal Wright and Shannon Arnold pushed the ball

forward for Newport, which Middleton said did an effective job of

getting upfield quickly off restarts, while Heather Stevenson and

junior Erin Hardy made it difficult for CdM attackers to clear paths

toward the goal.

Intensity on both sides increased in the second half with players

from each team sliding more frequently in attempt to gain possession

along with marking an opponent a bit closer.

“It’s the emotion of the Battle of the Bay,” Middleton, in his

second year at the helm of CdM, said. “This is the most exciting

girls game I’ve coached.”