CdM wraps up undefeated regular season
An undefeated season is impressive in any sport, but especially soccer, where an unlucky goal can go against the team that dominated in the run of play.
There’s only one undefeated team remaining in Orange County girls’ soccer, and it’s at Corona del Mar High. The Sea Kings (20-0-3) wrapped up an undefeated regular season Thursday with a 2-0 victory over Irvine. Now, the Sea Kings want to go undefeated in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs as well, to claim the first CIF title in program history. They expect to get the top seed in Division 2 when the brackets are released on Monday.
It’s been an interesting year for the Sea Kings, who are more offense-oriented than in the past. Four players — senior Taylor Rosen, junior Ava McKenzie and freshmen Megan Chelf and Trinity Rodman — have more than 10 goals scored.
There have been some wild games with big momentum swings, like a 5-3 win at Oxnard on Dec. 10 and a 5-4 victory at Mission Viejo on Jan. 7. But through it all, CdM has come out on top nearly every time. The Sea Kings clinched their first Pacific Coast League title since 2014.
Coach Bryan Middleton said the team had four goals at the start of the season: Win a tournament, win Battle of the Bay, win league and ultimately win CIF. They accomplished two of the three so far, with the Battle of the Bay game against rival Newport Harbor getting rained out.
But a fifth goal — get the top seed in Division 2 — became a priority midway through the season. The Sea Kings appear to have that locked up as well.
Credit has to go to the four senior captains, in Rosen, midfielder Leah Givant, defender Emma Scott and goalie Ally Lozano. None of them have been heavily recruited for college. In fact, nobody on the team has committed to play for a Division 1 college, which is a change from past teams. But each of the captains has played a big role in the Sea Kings’ success.
“They have really embraced their leadership role and trying to bring the team not only together through team bonding, but almost like a family,” Middleton said. “[We’ve created] such a strong bond amongst the group, that we can persevere through almost any situation in the game.”
Givant is the only active senior who was on the team as a freshman, when CdM had a memorable run to the quarterfinals of the Division 2 playoffs, including penalty-kick victories in the first two rounds.
“That was the most memorable year, and now this year is insane,” Givant said. “We want it so bad. We beat Northwood twice, and we’d never done that.”
Scott is in her first season back from a torn ACL, and also her first season playing as a defender. The back line does appear to be a bit thrown together, but it has gotten the job done. Sophomore Alyssa McKenzie is the center back, and versatile sophomore Katharine “Coco” Caston has the important task of marking the other team’s best player. Junior Julie Bartz and freshman Alex Ianni also play big roles for the unit.
The defense has changed significantly from a year ago. Goalie Kat Hess, the Newport-Mesa Dream Team Player of the Year, graduated and is now at Harvard.
“Very big shoes to fill,” Lozano said. “I feel like I’ve kind of stepped up to fill in for Kat, but I’m not Kat. I have to thank my defense. They’ve saved me so much.”
Standout center back Hailey Neumann, who would have been a senior at CdM, moved to Michigan. And right back Christina “Peanut” Venturini, another senior, decided not to play high school soccer this year.
Yet, CdM has made it work.
“Last year, we had Hailey, ‘Peanut’ and Kat back there defensively, like a wall,” Rosen said. “This year, we realized we have a lot of forward power, so even ‘Mids’ shifted his coaching to more of an offensive style. The defense kind of had to figure it out and adjust, and they’ve done a really good job.”
The senior quartet has provided important leadership, and have a fun relationship with the freshman class of Rodman, Chelf, Ianni and Kennedy Campbell.
“I feel like they’re all my little sisters,” Scott said. “I mean, yeah, they get annoying sometimes, just because we’re with each other 24-7. But we look after each other no matter what, if it’s at school or on the field. I forget everyone’s grades, to be honest.”
One thing Middleton would like to forget is a postseason streak. In his 15th year at the helm, he’s led CdM to the CIF quarterfinals seven times, but never further.
In 2011-12, CdM was the top seed in the Division 1 playoffs, but lost to Santa Margarita in the quarterfinals.
But these stats don’t seem to matter too much to this current group, at least not yet. They’re having too much fun.
“There’s a good vibe, there’s a good energy,” Middleton said. “We have a lot of momentum, but we have to take it one game at a time. When we see that next opponent, we have to be ready to play our game, and have a game plan to have a positive result.”
Twitter: @mjszabo
