Boys’ soccer notches tough win

Laguna shows some intensity in 3-1 win over Sage Hill.Displaying an intensity it has lacked since a Nov. 22 tie against Dana Hills, the Laguna Beach High boys’ soccer team dominated second-half play and posted a 3-1 nonleague victory over visiting Sage Hill Tuesday at Guyer Field.

“The boys actually shook off all the rust they had from our past two games and owned this team for the full 80 minutes,” Breakers coach Giovanni Vlahos said. “They played as hard and as intense as they did during our 2-2 draw with Dana Hills.”

Laguna allowed Sage Hill one scoring opportunity in the first half, and the Lightning made the most of it. They took advantage of a defensive error by the Breakers to post the only goal of the half for a 1-0 lead at the intermission.

Laguna responded to the halftime deficit by completely outplaying Sage Hill in the second half.

Derek LeBon scored twice, one on a breakaway in which he dribbled around the keeper and slipped the ball into the net. Laguna’s third score was by Tommy Hopper, his first of the season.

“He’s a freshman who’s starting to come into his own out there,” Vlahos said.

Brenden Hexberg had two assists and controlled Laguna’s midfield, and Michael Reyes assisted one goal.

“Another key player for us tonight was Danny Bober, who roamed the midfield and got a foot, head, body, whatever, in each and every play that Sage tried to start. His play disrupted them from the start.

“Tonight, each player did his job, and as I always tell them, you do your job, eleven men all doing it right, and we will win. If one player is off his mark, we’re in for a long night.”

Prior to Tuesday’s win over Sage Hill, Laguna suffered a 2-0 loss to visiting Valley Christian of Cerritos.

“They outplayed us on a physical level the whole game,” Vlahos said. “I told my boys before the game that they should remember them from last year and how physical and sometimes dirty they played but, I guess my team didn’t heed my warning and Valley Christian came out and pushed us around. The worst part about it was it was on our home field.”

Valley Christian scored on two Laguna Beach errors by Laguna. The Breakers, meanwhile, had three balls cleared off their goal line during the game, all three turned away by the Crusaders’ keeper.

“If not from some smart play from their defender sitting on the line, we would have had three goals,” Vlahos said.

Laguna returns to action today, traveling to face J. Serra in a 3:30 p.m. nonleague match.

In the coming week, the Breakers play at Mira Costa Monday (3:30 p.m.) and host Saddleback Valley Christian at 4:45 p.m. Wednesday.