Girls’ Soccer: CdM offense awakens
With his team having scored just one goal in the previous five games combined, Corona del Mar High girls’ soccer Coach Bryan Middleton shook things up a bit prior to Thursday’s Pacific Coast League game against Irvine.
Middleton switched the Sea Kings’ formation from a 4-4-2 to a 3-4-3, with one less defender but one more forward. The player who actually went from defense to up top was freshman Katharine Caston.
The move worked out. The end result was an embarrassment of riches for a team that had been struggling to put the ball in the back of the net.
Caston was among five different CdM players who scored against the Vaqueros in a 5-0 shutout at Corona del Mar High, also giving the Sea Kings their badly needed first league victory.
“That’s two crucial points,” Middleton said after he saw sisters Ava and Alyssa McKenzie, Leah Givant and Maddie Binder also all tally a goal for CdM. “Definitely it’s a step forward. We’ll try to keep the momentum going.”
Ava McKenzie, a sophomore, started the scoring in the second minute. Irvine goalkeeper Ashley Garcia did well to deflect CdM senior Ally Doherty’s shot off the crossbar. But it landed right at the feet of McKenzie, who booted it in for the early lead.
“We were just making sure that we were following up on our all our shots,” McKenzie said. “That’s how we scored the second goal too. It helped our team get out of our goal-scoring rut.”
McKenzie’s younger sister got into the action in the 25th minute, after Givant played the ball forward. An Irvine defender misplayed a clearing attempt, and Alyssa was there for the second goal.
“They did a good job stepping up when they needed to,” Binder said of CdM’s two freshmen on varsity each scoring a goal.
CdM (6-5-6, 1-1-2 in league) kept working against Irvine, which has been outscored by a combined 12-1 in its four league games. Ten minutes into the second half, a cross from Caroline Wood found the feet of Ava McKenzie, who touched it to Caston. Garcia had no chance on Caston’s straightaway shot from just outside the box, which went into the upper part of the net.
Givant and Binder would add goals in the closing minutes for CdM. Givant’s strike came from the left side and went off the goalie’s hands and in. Binder was rewarded for a strong effort in the 77th minute, when she outworked both a defender and the goalie and tapped the ball into the net.
Binder said the mood was set against Irvine (5-8-3, 0-3-1) in the pregame warmups.
“Everyone was ready for the game and prepared, instead of just messing around,” Binder said. “I feel like it helped for the win. We finally scored some.”
Kat Hess made three saves for the Sea Kings and a key steal in the first half, when she came to the corner of the box to take the ball from Irvine’s Raya Hijazi. Skyler Gullick was subbed into the goalie spot with 20 minutes left and made one save to help preserve the shutout.
CdM’s starting defenders of Hailey Neumann, Christina Venturini and Julie Bartz were stout, and Middleton liked that he also got to get defenders like Wood, Caroline Casey and Erika Wall into the mix as well in the lopsided game.
The Sea Kings expect Tuesday’s game at home against defending league champion Northwood, the last game of the first round of league, to be closer. The Timberwolves ended CdM’s streak of four straight Pacific Coast League titles last season, and they are in outright first place this year too after Thursday’s 1-0 victory over Beckman.
“They’ll probably come in thinking they’re going to win, because they beat us last year and took away our streak for league,” Binder said. “That’s just going to make us come in even harder to win.”
Ava McKenzie said the Sea Kings are looking forward to the challenge. Next Thursday’s home game against Woodbridge also could be key for playoff positioning. The Sea Kings and Warriors are now tied for third in league with identical 1-1-2 marks.
“[The Northwood game] is going to be rough, like physical,” Ava McKenzie said. “We need to work on that as a team anyway. [But] after this game we’ll have more confidence. I think we’ll come out strong. Hopefully we’ll keep on this upward trajectory and get another win.”
