Corona del Mar no fan of constant downpour in loss

Chris Yemma

Through a constant torrential downpour of rain, the Corona del Mar

High girls soccer team emerged on the unlucky side of the muddy

outcome.

And with lightning delays postponing the first few minutes, while

sheet after sheet of water poured down on the field, the Sea Kings

lost their sea legs in the final two minutes and fell to visiting

Arcadia, 1-0, in the second round of the CIF Southern Section

Division II playoffs Tuesday afternoon.

At halftime, as the CdM players huddled in their rain tent, Coach

Bryan Middleton told them the first team to score would win. He was

right.

In the 78th minute, with both teams pondering overtime, an Arcadia

cross found its way to an open Drew Tyrell, who slipped it in through

the open back door.

“I guess it just wasn’t meant to be for us to win today,”

Middleton said. “We definitely had a few opportunities on goal. They

had a few opportunities -- but I couldn’t even tell how that thing

went in. It was an impossible angle.”

Impossible? No. Unlikely? Yes. But the poor conditions finally got

the best of the Sea Kings (13-10-1), who fell victim to the

unpredictable roll of the ball.

And so ended the season that was kept alive Friday through double-

overtime, penalty-kick resuscitation in the first round against Villa

Park.

The Sea Kings couldn’t muster a 79th-minute goal Tuesday to

replicate what Alex Tobiessen had done Friday.

“Today’s game was totally unbelievable,” Middleton said. “I told

the girls to keep their heads high. We played just as well as them --

we’re just as good a team as them, but it just didn’t come in our

favor today.”

As the final whistle was blown, the life seemed to be sucked out

of the Corona del Mar sideline, consisting of the players, a few

parents and a few hard-core fans who braved what one CdM player

called the worst conditions she’s played in during her four-year

career.

“We played against [University] and it was pretty bad, but this

was worse,” senior Vanessa Fallon said. “It was pouring, there was

thunder and lightning -- I couldn’t see anything, no one could see

anything.”

But as the sun emerged in the closing minutes, the ball found its

way into the hands of the Apaches (17-3), who closed the door on

CdM’s chances of continuing on further into the postseason.

“It’s just one of those things,” Middleton said. “We’ve been

scored on a few times back-post this year and it was just an unlucky

ball.”

Said Fallon: “It was a huge loss and very disappointing. But we

played really well, we gave it our all but it was just an unlucky

goal for us. Good luck for them.”