Sea Kings stifled in showdown

Chris Yemma

In less than five minutes, the Corona del Mar High girls soccer team

was put on the edge of its season.

The Sea Kings, at one point fighting for first in the Pacific

Coast League, fell lower than they would have liked following a 4-0

league loss at Northwood Thursday.

Corona del Mar (11-9-1, 5-3-1 in league) was once riding a

six-game winning streak, beginning Dec. 16 with a win over Bay rival

Newport Harbor and ending nearly a month later, but the Sea Kings

have now won just two of their last six games, with one last chance

to of their own accord to continue into the postseason.

That last chance will be host Laguna Beach Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. --

a must-win for the Sea Kings to have a shot at qualifying for the CIF

Southern Section Division II playoffs.

Northwood (12-7-1, 6-1-1), which is tied for first in league with

Tesoro, wrestled CdM into its precarious position Thursday, quickly

but not painlessly.

Before the Sea Kings could blink, Northwood was up 2-0 four

minutes into the game after goals from junior Caty Cope and senior

Milada Rakijian. From that point forward it was a game of catch up

for CdM, but the Sea Kings lost that battle as well.

“When [Northwood] put the first goal in, all right, mistakes

happen,” Corona del Mar Coach Bryan Middleton said. “But it was like

the dagger in the back when they put the second goal in.”

But the dagger went deeper in the second half, after goals in the

50th minute and 66th, to erase any hope of a comeback.

“I think after the first five minutes our head did go down,”

Middleton said. “We didn’t show up today. We might as well have

stayed home.”

Staying at home, although not in the sense Middleton was using,

was something Northwood Coach Steven Tatone noticed improves the Sea

Kings’ game dramatically.

The Timberwolves eked out a 2-1 victory at Corona del Mar Jan. 18.

“[The Sea Kings] didn’t play with the fire they did before,”

Tatone said. “We were talking about this at halftime, that for

whatever reason -- and this is two years in a row -- they just

haven’t brought it here.

“When we play them [at CdM], they’re a different team.”

But Corona del Mar must win on the road Tuesday at Laguna Beach, a

team that sits in the cellar of the Pacific Coast League at 1-6. CdM

defeated the Breakers, 2-1, on Jan. 20.

The Sea Kings are not likely to face as much resistance from

Laguna Beach as they did from Northwood, which entered Thursday’s

game fresh off of a 2-0 loss to University, and was looking for the

quickest possible redemption.

CdM just happened to be the Timberwolves’ next opponent, which

created a dismal situation for the Sea Kings.

And the two goals right off the bat forced Middleton to employ a

different game strategy, one that involved a more aggressive

offensive approach.

“One goal you’re fine; you can get back in it pretty quick,”

Middleton said. “But with the two, you’ve got to play more offensive.

I tried that in the second half and put another forward up front...”

Middleton rolled the dice, but didn’t get the numbers.

“It’s like flipping a coin -- do or die,” Middleton said. “You

might get a couple goals back real quick, or you might get a couple

scored on you, which happened to us.”

So, now it really is do or die for the Sea Kings, who will play on

Laguna’s artificial turf Tuesday.

“We just have to regroup,” Middleton said. “It’s an artificial

field and I think our speed up top will play to our advantage.”