Girls’ Soccer: CdM stunned in quarterfinals again
Down two players late in the game Friday afternoon, the Corona del Mar High girls’ soccer team suddenly found itself also down by two goals.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to end for the top-seeded team in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs.
An undefeated season came to an end with a screeching halt in a familiar round. Ultimately, CdM lost to a team with more of a postseason pedigree.
Senior defender Natalie Day scored a penalty kick in the first half and senior midfielder Gabriella Hurtado added a goal late as La Mirada stunned CdM, 2-0, in the Division 2 quarterfinal match at Corona del Mar High.
The dream of the program’s first CIF title instead ended up as the eighth quarterfinal loss in Coach Bryan Middleton’s 15-year tenure. CdM has yet to make the CIF final four under Middleton. It’s La Mirada that advances to play Temecula Valley in the semifinals on Tuesday.
“This year has been phenomenal,” Middleton said. “I can’t think of another girls’ team in a long time that’s gone undefeated through preseason and league. My hat’s off to my team this year, with an incredible record of 22-1-3. Great season, great leadership from the seniors and we’ll see what’s in store for us in the future with the academy coming. I’m not exactly sure how many players I’ll get back next year.”
The 2016-17 season seemed to be the best chance for CdM. But the Sea Kings knew that La Mirada (18-4-2), the Suburban League champion which won the Division 4 title each of the last two years before moving up two divisions, would be tough.
CdM nearly took the lead in the 19th minute, on a cross-cage blast from the upper right corner of the box by freshman Trinity Rodman. Credit La Mirada keeper Melissa Torres, who leaped to her right to make the save.
Eleven minutes later, the visitors would pull ahead. CdM came into Friday’s game with a streak of six straight shutouts. That ended in the first half Friday, but not in the run of play.
Sophomore defender Katharine Caston was whistled for a yellow card in the Sea Kings’ box, resulting in a penalty kick that Day put away. The call seemed to come after the ball had been cleared by the CdM defense.
“The referee explained it to me at halftime, and he said that she was on the ground and she kicked the other player,” Middleton said. “She was the one who got knocked on the ground and got fouled, and she said she was trying to get up to continue play. When she got up, I guess she got her feet tangled with her other player.
“We didn’t play a bad game at all. It was really in the referee’s hands today. I’m not trying to be a poor sport ... but he made it very difficult for us to find success today, let’s put it that way.”
CdM controlled the action in the second half, pushing for an equalizer, but Torres (four saves) and the Matadores defense was up to the challenge. La Mirada Coach Dave Christensen said he changed his formation from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 after taking the lead. But CdM kept pushing.
“Honestly, I think we played better,” CdM senior midfielder Leah Givant said. “We were really frustrated, because we didn’t think we deserved what we got. Honestly, if you watched the game, you would think we were winning. We were the better team the whole time. The second half, they were exhausted, and we were just going at them.”
Rodman and fellow freshman Megan Chelf kept creating chances, as well as juniors Elizabeth Lamie and Ava McKenzie. Chelf played a ball into the box to McKenzie and got it back on a rebound, but couldn’t get a shot off. A couple of minutes later, Rodman’s free kick from about 25 yards out went just wide of the goal.
Senior defender Emma Scott then crossed it to Chelf, whose header went just wide. Moments after that, though, the comeback got tougher. Caston earned her second yellow card in the 73rd minute after a challenge on La Mirada’s Isabel Loza, and the automatic red meant that CdM went a player down.
The Sea Kings went two players down six minutes later, when Scott was red-carded. CdM still had another good chance to tie the score, as Chelf played it into the box and a La Mirada defender headed it backward. CdM sophomore Celeste Wayne was there, but couldn’t get a clean shot off.
Hurtado then iced it, scoring an insurance goal for the visitors.
La Mirada celebrated on the field. In the Matadores’ post-game talk, Torres yelled a reminder to her teammates that a local sports reporter picked CdM to win the game by two goals.
“There was some San Gabriel Valley Tribune guy tweeting out that we’d lose by two [goals today],” Christensen said. “I don’t ever read those and think about it, but my girls do, so they’re really fired up that they won by two because the newspaper predicted they’d lose by two.”
All that ultimately mattered to the Matadores was that they were moving on. For CdM, it was a very tough end to what has been a very successful season, including a Pacific Coast League title and a No. 4 ranking in Orange County to end the season.
“In all four years of high school, this is going to be the thing I remember the most for sure,” said forward Taylor Rosen, one of four senior captains along with Givant, Scott and keeper Ally Lozano, who made four saves Friday. “It’s been the best time ever, and it sucks so much [that it’s over].”
Twitter: @mjszabo
