Van Hiel is quick for CdM

CORONA DEL MAR — Once Corona del Mar High’s Heather Van Hiel stole the ball near mid-pool, all she saw in front of her was open water and Santa Margarita goalie Stephanie Peckham.

“I went as hard as I could toward the goal,” Van Hiel said. “I thought to myself, ‘I’m making this. This is going in.’”

Van Hiel was definitely off to the races. After all, the speedy sophomore was the same player who won three sprints for CdM during its 4-3 nonleague win on Saturday at Corona del Mar High.

The steal and goal for Van Hiel appeared to be a nail in the Eagles’ coffin, giving the Sea Kings a 4-0 lead with five minutes, 14 seconds left in the third quarter.

But CdM (9-3) gave most of that advantage back before hanging on for the win.

“I thought defensively, the girls did a great job,” CdM Coach Aaron Chaney said. “They got those three goals because we gave up some counters. We played a good, patient game, but we’ve got to put away our opportunities. That’s the bottom line. We definitely outplayed them, but the score didn’t indicate that.”

Santa Margarita (4-9) even had a chance to tie the game, getting the ball back before calling timeout with 20 seconds left. But the Sea Kings’ defense held strong, and Alexa Fuller’s long shot with a second left was easily blocked by CdM goalie Kate Murphy.

Van Hiel had a standout game all around, playing good defense all game on Santa Margarita’s Kacey Anderson. She also scored CdM’s first goal with 32 seconds left in the first quarter, holding the ball up top before suddenly firing into the left corner.

“I tried to play off [Anderson] a little,” Van Hiel said. “I realized she was trying to play up on me then push off to get space.”

The Sea Kings, meanwhile, had a dominant first half. They scored their second goal on a counterattack, with Murphy finding a sprinting Sarah Hutchison, who scored for a 2-0 lead 2:53 before halftime.

“We’re a pretty fast team,” Hutchison said. “We just try to capitalize on that. We had a lot of opportunities today. We didn’t execute on all of them, but we played hard.”

Haley Prickett earned a penalty shot early in the third quarter, which Katie Indvik skipped in to give CdM a 3-0 lead just 1:24 into the second half.

Twenty-two seconds later, Van Hiel had her steal and goal, but the Eagles began to come back.

The Eagles’ Stephanie Lavayen scored from eight meters out and Ashley Novack added a counterattack goal, cutting CdM’s advantage in half entering the fourth quarter.

Lavayen added another goal with 2:50 left in the game.

Van Hiel and senior Taylor Harkins each had two steals, while Prickett and Paige O’Brien had one for CdM.

Nonleague

CdM 4, Santa Margarita 3

Score by Quarters

S. Margarita

0

0

2

1

—

3

CdM

1

1

2

0

—

4

Santa Margarita -- Lavayen 2, Novack 1. Saves -- Peckham 12.

CdM -- Van Hiel 2, Hutchison 1, Indvik 1. Saves -- Murphy 7.