CdM survives Santa Monica surge

Patrick Laverty

The collective sigh of relief from the Corona del Mar High sideline

as the final whistle blew Tuesday was as strong as any Santa Ana

wind.

After Santa Monica simply peppered the Sea Kings’ goal in the

final minutes in an attempt to tie the score, the Sea Kings escaped

with a 1-0 victory, knocking off the No. 4 seed in the CIF Southern

Section Division II playoffs on their way to the quarterfinals.

The Sea Kings (14-3-6), who notched their first postseason victory

in 11 years in the first round, will face St. Francis (24-5-1) in the

quarterfinals at a site to be determined by a coin flip today.

St. Francis won the Division II co-championship last season. But

with Corona del Mar’s defeat of No. 4 Santa Monica, this year’s

championship race is wide open. The No. 2, 3 and 4 seeds have all

been eliminated through the first two rounds of play.

“I think our team is as good as anybody,” Corona del Mar Coach Pat

Callaghan said. “I think we can play with anybody.”

The Sea Kings certainly showed that against Santa Monica (19-3-4),

dominating the first 50 minutes. After creating numerous scoring

chances, Corona del Mar went ahead when Dominic Rubino’s corner kick

was knocked in by Chris Ringstrom nine minutes after halftime.

“I actually thought it was going to be pretty bad,” said Rubino,

who had served two perfect corner kicks previously in the opening

minutes of the second half that the Sea Kings were unable to convert.

“It was intended for [Dan] Whitaker at the front post. He dummied it

and Chris always finishes those.”

But after the goal, Santa Monica slowly began to take control of

the game and the Vikings’ attack reached a crescendo as the game went

into stoppage time.

Santa Monica nearly tied the score in the 65th minute when Omid

Shokoufandeh’s shot went off the far post before being cleared. A

minute later, Andrew Marinez’s 25-yard free kick went wide.

Near the end of regulation, the Vikings were awarded a free kick

just outside the penalty area, but Barry Jackson’s shot went directly

into CdM’s wall of defenders and was cleared, but Santa Monica came

right back on the attack.

Ryan Natale hit the post as the game went into stoppage time, of

which nearly five minutes were played.

A minute later, Marinez got behind the Sea Kings defense and into

a one-on-one situation with Corona del Mar goalie Jay Zimmerman, who

came off his line and made a great save of Marinez’s shot attempt.

“You’ve just got to go all out,” Zimmerman said. “You can’t hold

back. You have to come out and cut down on the angle.”

But the Vikings weren’t done. Natale got one last shot for Santa

Monica that went just over the crossbar before the Sea Kings regained

possession and the final whistle blew.

“They were intense,” Zimmerman said of the final minutes.

“I felt they were on fire in the last 20 minutes,” Callaghan said.

“It felt like 45.”

But the Sea Kings, who clearly dominated the majority of the game

until they scored, held on. Zimmerman finished with six saves, five

in the second half, and the defensive line of Grant Almquist, Cory

Azzalino, Shane Collins and Ferguson Parker was able to withstand

Santa Monica’s last-minute attack.

Corona del Mar’s own attack was aided by seniors Julien Cerutti

and Jeritt Thayer, who both played splendidly in the midfield.

It was Cerutti who set up the game-winning goal.

Standing over a free kick from 25 yards out, Cerutti delivered a

picture-perfect shot that Santa Monica goalkeeper Ari Zlotoff barely

tipped over the crossbar, giving the Sea Kings the corner kick that

allowed Ringstrom to score.

With two playoff victories and five wins in a row overall, Corona

del Mar enters the quarterfinals with loads of confidence.

“Tons of confidence,” Zimmerman said. “No one can stop us now. We

have so much confidence right now. I don’t think we can lose. We’ve

got so much momentum.”