CdM hurts its chances

LAGUNA HILLS — A soccer ball replaced the proverbial bullet Tuesday afternoon.

The ammunition made no difference. The Corona del Mar High girls shot themselves in the foot with two Pacific Coast League games left in the regular season.

Laguna Hills (10-4-3, 3-1-1 in league) defeated Corona del Mar, 1-0, because of an own goal from a Sea Kings’ player.

Hawks senior Jacqueline Rivas was trying to cross the ball to a teammate, but it bounced off a Corona del Mar player’s foot and into the Sea Kings’ goal in the 55th minute.

“Today the soccer gods weren’t nice,” CdM Coach Bryan Middleton said. “We had plenty of opportunities, it’s just that none of them went in the back of the net. I told the girls everything was positive about the game. It was just unfortunate that we couldn’t get a goal in to score.”

Freshman goalkeeper Lindsey Luke had four saves for the Sea Kings (10-7-3, 3-3 in league), who outshot the Hawks, 12-6. Junior Hawks goalkeeper Jessica Meyer also had four saves.

The Sea Kings have two games left against Irvine (Thursday) and University (Saturday), and at worst, the team has to win one match and tie the other to keep its playoff hopes alive, Middleton said.

Irvine improved to 3-2-2 in league Tuesday after beating first-place Beckman (4-3). The Hawks claim second place while Corona del Mar falls fourth behind Irvine, making Thursday’s game a must-win for the Sea Kings. University sits in last place.

Three teams will advance from the Pacific Coast League to the playoffs.

Corona del Mar lost to Irvine, 3-0, Jan 15.

The specter of finals could throw a wrench into things for the Sea Kings. All Newport-Mesa Unified District high schools have finals this week, so getting his team to concentrate on soccer may be especially challenging.

“Thursday’s game is going to be very important,” Middleton said. “Everyone’s hoping University — in their last three games here — can beat someone.”

SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or at soraya.mcdonald@latimes.com.