Corona del Mar boys’ soccer loses at University
From the perspective of Corona del Mar High boys’ soccer coach Damien O’Brien, his team had gotten down in several matches and gotten away with it.
In a contest with an old Pacific Coast League rival, the Sea Kings were unable to complete the comeback.
Senior forward Kaili Chen scored two goals in the second half for host University, which went on to defeat CdM 3-1 on Thursday night in a nonleague match.
The Trojans (5-3) scored right away, breaking through in the first minute. Gabe Hertel collected his own rebound for the goal. His header had gone off the crossbar after he received a cross from left back Nic Conta.
“If you’re starting slow and giving the ball away, like in the first half, against teams of this quality, you’re going to get punished,” O’Brien said.
University controlled the play throughout the match, receiving strong play in the midfield from Neil Hudson and Adam Bello. The efforts of Andrew Jang and Aydin Abdollahi also helped the Trojans play with pace.
The Sea Kings (5-2) had only two shots on goal for the whole match, both coming in the first half from Chase Marion. In the 38th minute, Marion managed to level the score at 1-1.
A fast-developing passing combination involving William Little and Hassan Selim ended with the ball finding Marion. He made a quick turn to his left and swiped his left foot through for a cross-cage shot that hit the far post and went in.
“Chase has been doing that for us for the last five or six games,” O’Brien said. “I think he has scored seven now in seven games for us. That’s what he is capable of. He just needs half a chance, half a turn to get that shot off. He’s got a wicked left foot.”
University struck early in the second half, too, scoring in the 45th minute. Chen dribbled off the left wing and beat goalkeeper Wally Korbler, who made two saves for CdM after being inserted in the second half. First-half keeper Nik Darrough stopped three shots.
Chen held a finger to his mouth as if to silence the CdM crowd after his first goal. When he scored his second goal in the 65th minute, he brought his hand up to his right ear.
The thrill of a spirited rivalry gave Chen extra motivation to go out and perform.
“It definitely is [fun],” Chen said. “We’ve been rivals with them for a long time, and ever since two years ago, they’ve always constantly beaten us. This is just very important to us, and it’s like a turning point in our program.
“Getting this win means a lot to us, and so that’s why I celebrated like that.”
It was also evident from Chen’s celebration that he and his teammates had also heard some comments from the visiting stands.
“We talked about it at halftime,” Trojans coach Martin Wallwork said of dealing with the crowd in a rivalry match. “They got back into the game because we lost a little bit of composure, started listening to the chirping from the fans, and the crowd got a little bit rowdy on that side.
“It unsettled us. At halftime, we talked about regaining our composure and playing. We came out and scored a goal early, and we were good tonight.”
After winning the CIF Southern Section Division 3 championship with a 2-0 win over Villa Park to finish the 2017-18 season, the Trojans were moved up to Division 1 last season. University lost in the first round to Los Alamitos last season, and Wallwork felt that he needed to add more challenges to the team’s nonleague schedule.
University has held its own this season, going 2-2 against Division 1 opponents. The Trojans also beat Santa Ana, while losing to Godinez and Capistrano Valley.
“Sometimes, you just have to hold your hand up and say that you were beaten by a better team,” O’Brien said, adding that the Trojans were a step up in class for his team in the early going.
“We seemed to lose it a little bit tonight, but then again, we were playing against good players, and when we gave the ball away, we didn’t get it back for long periods of time.”
The defending Surf League champion Chargers look to build off last season’s run to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals.
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