Chaos ensued last Friday when CdM’s soccer boys made CdM history and won CIF finals.  The Sea Kings played La Mirada in Mission Viejo.  Students disregarded the short distance and turned out in fine form.  Hundreds of supporters came to cheer on the boys.  CdM had the distinction of being the school with the biggest turnout.  Senior Chris Burke liked the turnout.  “It was really nice to know that the school cared about our team.”

Students wait anxiously for the game to be over

The game, with a score of 2-0, was nerve-wracking, to say the least.  A goal was not scored until the middle of the second half by senior Ali Sadri, which meant that the entire first half was punctuated by spurts of screaming and groaning as CdM missed goal after goal.

Junior Kjell Wolker was down with a dislocated shoulder, but got it popped back in and went back into the game.  Shortly after he went back in, he was taken down, and dislocated his shoulder again.  He was then out for the rest of the game.  Senior Paul Zubatov was also injured.  After going for a header against a La Mirada player, he was elbowed in the head, then fell to the ground, hitting his head again.  A player then tripped over him.  Zubatov stayed down, but eventually got up and kept on playing.  He finished the half, but Coach Greg Larssen sidelined him after Zubatov couldn’t remember anything during halftime.  “He was like, did I play well?  Coach, you gotta tell me if I played well.  We’re playing in the finals, right?” said Sadri. 

Zubatov went to the ER and was diagnosed with a concussion.  He was released and ready to celebrate with his team the next day though.

Burke commented on his teammates injuries.  [Zubatov] and [Wolker] are both key players to our team.  Having them hurt was something that scared our team.  Luckily, everyone stepped up and did what they had to win the game.”

La Mirada went into the game undefeated.  But Burke wasn’t too worried.  “I was a little nervous, but I was confident that if we played our game then we could win.”

About 20 minutes into the second half, senior Reed Williams was tripped, but the ref failed to call a foul.  Angered, senior Alex Mainthow tripped a La Mirada player hard, and got a yellow card.  Temporarily benched, Coach Larssen had to find a replacement, and chose Sadri.  When asked how he felt when he got to go in, Sadri replied, “Finally!  I wanted to go in so bad.  We lost Kjell [Wolker] and Paul [Zubatov], and I felt the game slipping in [La Mirada's] favor.  I knew it would come down to the final moments.” 

Sadri waves to the fans

However, after Sadri kicked the goal, he did not think it was going to go in.  “It was a bad shot, but the turf field let it skip.  I was thinking, did I actually do this?  It’s a dream come true.  I’ve had this dream since I first found out what CIF was.  When Reed [Williams] scored, I knew the dream was coming true.”

“Words cannot describe [Sadri's goal," said Burke.

After his goal, the excitement was almost tangible.  Sadri's grin threatened to split his face, and as he was tackled by his teammates, Sadri was all but jumping up and down.  "I'm super excited," said Sadri.  "I've gotten hugs, congratulations from people I don't even know.  I was in Pavilions, and some adults came up and congratulated me.  It's the best feeling."

Fans storm the field

After Williams scored his goal, he ran around the field, making his teammates catch him.  He was also tackled to the ground, and this time, CdM students rushed to the fence.  At this point, there was about ten minutes left in the game, and CdM knew they had it in the bag.  Students chanted down the last tweleve seconds of the game, and, regardless of the security guards and announcements over the loud speaker, stormed the field.  Sadri and Williams were the first to celebrate on the team, but the rest of the boys quickly made their way over to form a giant dogpile.  Players were put up onto shoulders as students rushed to join the boys, and the security guards just watched as hundreds of screaming teenagers jumped the fence.

The boys played their first state game on Tuesday against Castle Park.  They were tied 2-2 at the end of the game, and ended up battling in penalty kicks.  The score ended up 5-4, CdM, with sophomore goalie Connor Gaal saving two goals and junior Brian Ford making the winning penalty kick.  Congratulations CdM!  The boys are scheduled to play on Thursday, time and place to be determined.

Congratulations are due to the boys varsity soccer team who won, for the first time in CdM’s history, the semi-final game for CIF on March 2.  The boys played North Torrance, and beat them, 3-0, with goals by freshman Jack McBean, junior Brian Ford, and senior Chris Burke.

The game started early, and so did the fouls.  Both teams played aggresively, each wanting the win.  McBean was yellow-carded twice throughout the game.  Two yellow cards is equal to one red card, so he was kicked out for the rest of the game.  Ford took several tumbles, as did senior Reed Williams, but the real showstopper was sophomore goalie Connor Gaal.

A one-on-one penalty kick between a North Torrance player and Gaal had everyone holding their breaths.  At this point in the game, McBean and Ford had already scored, and the Seakings wanted to keep their shutout.  North Torrance had a hard ball into the bottom right corner of the goal, but Gaal stopped it, to the obvious delight of his teammates and the fans rooting on the sidelines.

During the second half, Williams labourisly worked his way up the field time and time again.  He faced tough opposition; at times two or more players dogged his steps.  North Torrance was not about to give Williams an inch.  Instead, Williams crossed the ball, and Burke kicked it in.

Comedy was provided during the game when junior Nick Rich got hit by a wayward ball when on the sidelines, which caused a bloody nose.  Williams careened into the sidelines and fell.  Senior Paul Zubatov ran over and asked the spectators if they were okay before helping Williams up and running back into the game.  Perhaps the most interesting was sophomore Matt Francini’s jersey, which was missing a rather large portion of material under one of his arms.

One of the highlights from the sidelines was seeing some of the players excited smiles.  Seniors Ali Sadri, Ryan Kontra, and Elliot Waniek all had big grins before running onto the field.  Waniek was especially happy as he has been sidelined for most of the season due to an injury.

The boys are scheduled to play in the finals against La Mirada in Mission Viejo on Friday, March 5, at 7pm.  Good luck Seakings!

Boys join the fans in cheering

The senior boys on the varsity soccer team celebrated their last year of soccer on Monday’s Senior Game.  CdM played San Juan Hills, and, as fitting for a senior game, won 4-0.

Senior Ryan Kontra is escorted by his parents.

All the seniors, except for Anthony Andry who was home due to illness, were in full force, including Reed Williams who had been sidelined due to a pulled muscle, and Elliot Waniek who had previously hurt his knee during a preseason game and had been out for most of the season.  Paul Zubatov, Sebastien Welch, Ali Sadri, Ryan Kontra, Alex Mainthow, and Parsa Rahmatpanah, along with Williams and Waniek, were recognized by their coach Greg Larsen and escorted down a balloon-lined pathway by their parents.

Offsides kept the boys frustrated in the first half, especially  Williams who’s goal was invalidated due to offsides.  However, he proved once again to be a valuable player, popping up all over the field, aiding the defenders and offenders.

Senior Reed Williams is everywhere.

All eyes were trained on Williams who had dribbled his way up and was sure to score a goal.  However, he hit the crossbar, starting the chain of events that would eventually lead to freshman Jack Gorab’s goal.  Once Williams shot the ball, everything fell apart.  San Juan Hills’ goalie came out of the box, but the CdM boys just could not score.  San Juan Hills eventually cleared the ball, leaving CdM supporters asking “did that just really happen?”  However, Williams got the ball back, and once again faced the goal.  This time, he crossed it to Gorab, who dived, headed, and scored.

Junior Brian Ford tries to score.

Sadri also had a header.  After missing a shot, Sadri was upset.  ”My coach was kind of teasing me,” said Sadri.  ”I felt obligated to score.”  His obligation lasted for most of the second half.  Near the end, Williams once again dribbled the ball up the field, and crossed it to Sadri, who headed it in.  ”I was so excited,” said Sadri.

Besides Williams, junior Brian Ford was a valuable player, scoring two goals.  He sped up and down the field, stealing the ball and passing it to his teammates, but underplayed his contribution to Trident.  ”It was fun to be able to just go out and play,” said Ford.

The boys won Pacific Coast League two weeks ago after a game-winning goal by freshman Jack McBean.

Recently, the boys soccer team has taken the stage as one of Orange County’s top performing teams. Currently, the boys are ranked fourth in county, and 19^th in the nation. Corona del Mar is led by Reed Williams, a senior who has already committed to playing at UCLA in his future. Williams leads the team with 23 goals, an astonishing amount, considering that he has been out for the last five league games due to an injury with his hamstring. Along with Williams, Jack McBean and Brian Ford have contributed big to Corona’s success with goals and defense. Ford, a junior midfielder, has scored seven times this season, and provides many assists, mostly to Williams. Ford has struggled the last few games with a sprained ankle, but continues to play on it.  McBean has been gone for the last two games with training in Arizona with the Jr. national boys soccer team. McBean is currently a freshman and continues to carry Corona with stellar shots and amazing plays. McBean is one of the more physical players on the team, usually in a conflict with a player on the other team.

But, as of last week, all three were back on the field and in top condition, ready to take on their league and regain control. During their period of weakness, Corona suffered its first loss to University high school in an upsetting overtime loss. Corona had tied three times, and one once, tying them for second in league. In his first game back, Williams scored both goals for Corona, beating Laguna Hills 2-0. Just two days later, Williams was back at it, scoring the only goal against Irvine to win another league game for Corona and put them tied for first in the Pacific Coast League.

This week, Corona faces its toughest competitor, University high school. The past few years have always had University come out on top in league, but this year Corona has all intentions of stopping it, especially with this trio at full health.

Corona del Mar Boys’ Varsity Soccer played their second game of the season yesterday against Irvine High School.  Corona del Mar, with an overall record of 11-0-01 was the favorite going into the game.  The story yesterday proved to be much more convoluted.

The Sea Kings, who started the game with several key players on the bench due to illness and injury, got off to a solid start.  ”We dominated them in the first 10 minutes.  I liked how we asserted ourselves early as the better team,” said Senior Chris Burke.

Soon after, it seemed disaster had struck the Sea Kings.  A quick counterattack by the Vaqueros, and one of their few concrete chances in the game, yielded a goal, making the score line 1-0 in Irvine’s favor.

Curiously, head coach of the Sea Kings, George Larsen, remained silent as the team struggled to put the ball in the back of the net.  ” I wanted to see how the boys handled the adversity.  We haven’t been down often this season,” said Larsen.

The first half ended with the same score and many failed chances by the Sea Kings, including one nicely placed cross by sophomore Jack Gorab which connected with junior Brian Ford for a goal, only to be called offside.

During the half-time break, Larsen took to action.  He called out a few of his players to get mentally in the game, and questioned the efficiency of the team’s warm up.

Larsen’s call for action was quickly answered in the second half as a long throw by senior Alex Mainthow reached Brian Ford.  The ball was diverted to the far goal post, bounced back into the box, and then Ford cleaned up his dirty work by hammering it in.

However. the tension was not relieved as the Sea Kings were looking for the full three points earned with a win.  Wave upon wave of the Sea King’s attack crashed the Vaquero’s goal only to be blocked or miss wide.  Finally on a direct kick attempt by freshman Jack McBean, were the Sea Kings finally successful.  A low shot under Irvine’s wall reached the netting on the far post.

The game ended to a relieved Corona del Mar sideline.  However, the Corona del Mar huddle remained to smooth out the rough edges.  ”We didn’t play to our full potential,” said Larsen, “Injuries aren’t an excuse for our performance, but we better come ready to play University this Friday”.

The game against University High School will be held on the 15th, at 3:15 on the Sea King’s home field.

The boys on the Sea kings Varsity soccer team held their breath as senior Paul Zubatov crossed a high ball to junior Brian Ford. The boys’ stress soon became elation as Brian shot the ball into the right pocket of the goal by using his head. The final whistle blew minutes after that, marking the Sea King’s win in the Adidas South Orange County Classic.

However, the road to the finals was not an easy one for the Sea Kings. In the finals alone CdM was down for the majority of the game.

“We were scored right away, and we thought we were going to lose for basically the entire game,” said junior Kjell Wolker. However, the Sea Kings persevered and scored two goals in the last ten minutes of the game. The first of CdM’s goals was scored by sophomore Jack Gorab off of a free kick. Shortly after was when Ford’s header took place, securing a tournament victory for the Sea Kings.

The final game was not the only bump in the road for CdM. For the final two games of the tournament, the Sea Kings were missing their star, senior Reed Williams. Williams will be attending UCLA next year to play soccer, and is one of the team’s most valuable assets.

“It felt great to win, especially because we didn’t have Reed. We proved that we aren’t a one-man show,” said Wolker.

Before the semi-finals, CdM played and defeated El Camino Real, the number one team in the nation, as ranked by ESPN. CdM scored two goals to El Camino Real’s zero.

“We proved ourselves to big name teams,” said Williams, “and that felt really good.”

The tournament took place from December 28 to 31. The Sea Kings have an overall record of 11-0, and play again on Friday, January 8, against Laguna Hills.

If you have a facebook and know Brian Ford, or want to show some Sea King pride, then vote Brian Ford for CaptainU player of the year! Brian is a junior at CdM and is currently playing soccer for the Sea Kings. His outstanding skills on the field has made him one of the top contestants to win this years player of the year award.

Want to know how to vote? Its very simple.

Step 1.) Log on to Facebook

Step 2.) Go to this link – http://www.facebook.com/pages/CaptainU/32196027958?ref=search&sid=572995971.3429012835..1&v=wall

Step 3.) Become a fan of the page and scroll down to Brian Fords profile

Step 4.) Click “like” on his profile

Thank you for voting Brian Ford as player of the year!

It was below sixty degrees, but that didn’t stop CdM’s varsity boy’s soccer team.  They played Sage Hill High School on December 9.  Although CdM won, three to one, neither team had the upper hand for the whole game.

Freshman Jack Gorab heads to goal

UCLA-bound senior Reed Williams scored two goals.  Junior Clayton Rinehart scored a goal as well.  CdM had many shots, but most went straight to the goalie.

Sophomore Conner Gaal played the first half in goal.  He let in only one of the multiple shots on goal by Sage.  Senior Alex Mainthow played the second half in goal, blocking all shots.

CdM played an aggressive game, fouling Sage several times and kicking balls both into the stands and over the fences.

On December 11, the boys played Woodbridge.  It was raining, but that just made it easier for the boys to slide tackle.  The Woodbridge game was even more aggressive than the Sage one.  Jerseys were pulled, knees were kicked, and multiple players had to take a minute to pick themselves up.

Freshman Jack McBean

Williams scored twice again, along with junior Brian Ford.  Senior Paul Zubatov scored once off a penalty kick, and freshman Jack McBean scored once as well.

Willliams was named Daily Pilot’s athlete of the week.  “What makes you a good player,” he said to the Pilot, “is being able to think really quickly, or sometimes being able to act without thinking.”