Pacific Coast League Soccer : Laguna Beach Holds First With Scoreless Tie

The Laguna Beach High School boys’ soccer team maintained its hold on first place in the Pacific Coast League by playing host Orange to a scoreless tie Friday.

The tie left Laguna Beach (16-4-1, 10-2-1) half a game ahead of Orange (14-3-4, 9-2-2) with two games to play. If Orange finished tied for first, it would get the lead playoff berth because of two forfeit wins over Laguna Beach, which used an ineligible player in those games.

Orange controlled the offensive play in the first half, but Laguna Beach came back with a series of scoring chances in the second. One of the Artists’ opportunities was thwarted when a Laguna Beach header from inside the penalty area sailed just over the crossbar.

“It was one of our worst days,” Laguna Beach Coach Foad Naderzad said. “We were totally confused out there. At halftime, we talked about it, made some adjustments and took out some of our players.”

“Laguna Beach didn’t play as well as they could have, but give Orange credit for that,” said Orange Coach John Garcia. “We worked the ball around well offensively, and defensively, we slowed Laguna down. And when they did get their offense going in the second half, we were able to emerge with some scoring chances of our own.

“We outplayed them today, and it’s too bad we weren’t able to come out with a win.”

In another Pacific Coast League soccer game:

Laguna Hills 1, Woodbridge 0--Kevin Macare, a senior left wing, scored 12 minutes into the game to lead Laguna Hills (11-7-3, 6-5-2) at home. Goalie Mike Goodman had 16 saves for Woodbridge (8-11, 5-8-0).