Mariners knocks off St. John, 3-0

Rick Devereux

A chilly evening didn’t put out the competitive fire inside the

Mariners fifth- and sixth-grade boys gold division team Thursday

night at the Costa Mesa Farm Sports Complex. The Seahawks pressured

the ball throughout their 3-0 win over St. John.

“We went into the game wanting to win,” Mariners Coach Mark

Arblaster said. “We knew we needed two points [for a win] to advance

to the next round.”

The Seahawks had several chances in the opening moments of the

game, but goaltender Anthony Garcia kept St. John in the game with

timely saves, including punching the ball over the crossbar. Justin

Crosson helped out the Fighting Irish defense when he headed a shot

out of the penalty box.

The Mariners went on the scoreboard midway through the first half

when Erickson Klein’s free kick went to Sean Davis inside the penalty

box. Davis collected the ball and shot, but Garcia was able to block

the kick. Shawn Shahidi found the loose ball and deposited it to the

back of the net.

Calvin Tron pushed the ball upfield for St. John, but the swarming

Seahawk defense, led by Gavin Arblaster, stifled the attack as the

half ended, 1-0.

Mariners spread its players and used crossing passes to find open

players and possible runs at the goal throughout the game. Davis was

the recipient of such a pass into the penalty box, and he delivered

the ball perfectly into the upper-left corner, but he was ruled

offsides.

Shahidi dribbled the ball in from the right side and fed a perfect

pass to Klein, who dribbled once to secure an open shot on the net

and give the Seahawks a 2-0 lead.

Andrew Roth tried to rally his St. John teammates by making runs

up the left side, but Mariners defender Cody Parola consistently

blocked his path.

Rory Kew, who was the Seahawks’ goaltender until Klein’s goal, got

in on the scoring for Mariners by using his left foot to boot the

ball over the Irish defenders for the final goal.

“These kids want to win for their school,” Coach Arblaster said.

“Every aspect of the game, they played well.”

The coach was impressed with how well they played on the large

fields. The complex fields are about 120 yards long and 80 yards

wide, compared to the 100-65 fields most of the athletes are used to

using.

“This is like the size for the Galaxy,” he said. “It’s almost too

big for these kids, but we wanted to use the width of the field to

our advantage.”