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Girls’ soccer: CdM survives early test to beat Oxnard

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OXNARD — The Corona del Mar High girls’ soccer team started strong and ended strong Saturday in a nonleague game at Oxnard.

That was enough for the Sea Kings to stay undefeated and register their biggest win of the young season.

Five players scored as CdM earned an impressive 5-3 victory over previously undefeated Oxnard, the defending CIF Southern Section Division 5 champion.

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This year, Corona del Mar also has its sights set on a CIF title, in Division 2. To Coach Bryan Middleton, his players remind him of the 2011-12 CdM squad, which finished 22-3-2 and had a 16-game winning streak.

“This team compares to that team with offensive production,” Middleton said. “We’ll sort out the defense a little bit and try to make a run at a Division 2 title this year.”

CdM (7-0) is ranked No. 11 in California by TopDrawerSoccer.com. The Sea Kings showed their depth against a formidable Oxnard side (6-1), which boasts 14 seniors and returns every starter from last year’s CIF championship team. Senior team captains Taylor Rosen and Leah Givant, sophomore Katharine Caston, freshman Trinity Rodman and junior Ava McKenzie all found the back of the net.

The visiting Sea Kings shocked the Yellow Jackets early, grabbing a 3-0 lead in the first half. First it was Rosen, scoring on a header in the eighth minute on a cross from Liz Lamie. Rosen stayed hot after notching a hat trick in Friday’s 6-0 win at Lompoc Cabrillo.

The second assist also went to Lamie in the 25th minute, when she again played the ball to her left to Givant in the box.

“We came out way stronger in this game, for sure,” Lamie said. “We were a little bit sloppy in the beginning in our last game.”

The lead grew to 3-0 in the 28th minute, when a free kick from just outside the box by freshman Megan Chelf was headed into the goal by Caston. She sliced it just inside the left post.

Oxnard answered just before halftime on a goal from Paulina Aldrete, but the Sea Kings had to feel good about a 3-1 halftime lead. Still, Middleton warned his players.

“That team doesn’t give up,” he said. “They’re a comeback team. Twice last year in the playoffs they came back from two goals [down] to win, so I know that they have a lot of heart and don’t give up. [This was] a very good test on the road for us. They got moved from D5 to D3, and there’s a reason why, because they’re a very good program.”

The Yellow Jackets proved it after the break, stunning a CdM defense that had allowed just one goal prior to Saturday. A goal from Yamile Mondragon, then a free kick from outside the box by Jessica Tamayo, suddenly tied the score at 3 in the 55th minute.

But CdM responded well just four minutes later. CdM’s third header goal of the game gave the Sea Kings back the lead, Rodman doing the honors on a free kick from about 30 yards out by junior defender Julie Bartz.

Bartz earned another assist a few minutes later, as her free kick from closer to the sideline found McKenzie for another header goal.

CdM’s defense was led by senior goalie and captain Ally Lozano (six saves) and featured solid play from the fourth team captain, senior Emma Scott, as well as Bartz, Caston, Alyssa McKenzie, Emily Mickelsen and the third freshman starter, Alex Ianni.

The youth seems to have infused the Sea Kings. Chelf has six goals — tied for the team lead with Rosen — and a team-best nine assists. Rodman has five goals and six assists.

Overall, CdM has scored 39 goals through its first seven games, more than five per contest.

“We’re definitely an offensive team this year, for sure,” Givant said. “Usually we’re really strong defensively and we can’t score goals. This year, we’re going to score a lot of goals, for sure. It’s awesome. You can pass it to anyone and you can rely on them to do something with the ball.”

CdM started off its season by winning the Westminster Classic tournament, just the second tournament win in Middleton’s 15-year tenure. Now the Sea Kings have their sights set on winning the Sunny Hills tournament. After a home nonleague game against Whittier California on Tuesday, CdM resumes Sunny Hills tournament play at home Thursday against Serrano High of Phelan.

It may still be early, but there is already the sense that this might be a special season for the Sea Kings.

“We have a lot of chemistry this year, more than ever I think since I was a freshman,” Lamie said. “We just get along and we all love playing soccer, and I think that’s really key for us.”

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