Perfect Sea Kings
CORONA DEL MAR — Hunter Molnar said the Corona del Mar High boys’ lacrosse team hasn’t turned in a perfect game in the regular season.
Yet, the Sea Kings’ record this regular season has been flawless.
Perfect is how they finished the regular season at home on Wednesday. The Sea Kings routed Beckman, 16-2, to cap the program’s first undefeated regular season.
That is 19 games played without losing or tying a game. Ten of those in Pacific Coast League play.
The Sea Kings added to their already historic day. They collected their fifth straight undefeated league title.
The party is just beginning for CdM, ranked No. 5 in the state by laxpower.com.
“Regular season, league, that’s never our goal,” said Molnar, a senior attacker. “Our goal the whole time has always been … the final game.”
The game Molnar is referring to is the U.S. Lacrosse Orange County Southern Division 1 title match. The Sea Kings have reached the finale twice in the past three seasons, losing each time.
The road to getting back to the big game starts Tuesday, when the playoffs start.
The Sea Kings don’t know their opening-round opponent. Coach G.W. Mix said CdM learns Saturday during the playoff pairings who it will face at home.
“We can feel pretty confident that we will be the No. 1 seed,” said Mix, who was happy to see the Sea Kings close out the regular season undefeated with a sound win. “[Going undefeated is] certainly an accomplishment. It’s a credit to the kids and the program itself. But at the end of the day, at this particular point and time, it means absolutely nothing. All that matters now is that we go 1-0 on Tuesday.
“There are those that would express concern about going into the playoffs undefeated, but at the end of the day, whether you go in 10-0 or 0-10, you can’t lose that next game.”
The Sea Kings made sure to enter the postseason on fire.
They never let down against a solid Beckman program, which went into the afternoon with only two losses. One of those was a 17-10 setback to CdM on April 2.
The 17 goals was the most given up by Beckman all season.
Through three quarters in the second matchup between the two schools, the Sea Kings were four goals away from handing Beckman (14-3, 7-2) its worst loss.
Molnar recorded three of CdM’s 14 goals in the first three quarters and he assisted on another. By the time the game was over, it seemed like the entire roster found the back of the net.
If it weren’t for a running clock after CdM went ahead by 12 midway through the third quarter, the Sea Kings might have topped their 22-goal effort against Irvine last month.
Casey Mix led the Sea Kings with four goals on just five shots. Michael Keasey, Connor Canale and Jack Gorab each added two goals.
In all, eight players scored at least a goal. The Sea Kings are deep and they have counted on others to contribute.
“We had a stretch [before we played Beckman] where we played seven games in 14 days,” said Keasey, a senior midfielder bound for Yale. “It’s a huge honor to go undefeated in league, not to mention the regular season, and hopefully we can carry this momentum into the playoffs.”
Keasey believes CdM can make a title run because of its work ethic and unselfish play.
The Sea Kings’ defense is strong enough to carry the team.
The Sea Kings almost pitched a shutout, until Beckman scored with 6:14 left to play. Holy Cross-bound goalie Michael Ortlieb had left the game by then, only having to make a handful of saves.
“I think everyone’s going to be out to get us,” Keasey said. “It’s going to be really fun to go out and try to beat some teams.”
Twitter: @DCPenaloza