PREP SOCCER ROUNDUP : Saddleback, Solis Splash Past Corona del Mar

Playing on a rain-soaked field that resembled Florida swampland more than a soccer field, Saddleback High School beat Corona del Mar, 1-0, in a Sea View League opener Wednesday in Newport Beach.

After the game, Saddleback players dunked goalie Victor Solis and Coach Mel Silva into one of the mini-lakes that had formed on the field.

“For the whole game, Victor laughed at his teammates, saying they were all wet,” Silva said. “Since he stayed dry in the goalie box, they told him they’d get him at the end of the game.”

The winning goal for Saddleback (10-1-2, 1-0 in league), at the 11:16 mark in the first half, almost didn’t happen.

Jose Escudero’s initial shot over leaping goalie Travis Grant hit the crossbar, but the Roadrunners got a break when the ball bounced to Braulio Mendez, who kicked it into the empty net.

“We didn’t get any rub of the green,” Corona del Mar Coach Martin McGrogan said. “Against a well-organized team like Saddleback you don’t get many scoring chances, and today we didn’t take advantage of our opportunities.”

One of those opportunities came with seven minutes to play, when Corona del Mar’s Ola Karoliussen fired a shot from 25 feet, but Solis deflected it over the goal with a leaping, right-handed stab.

With two minutes to play, Karoliussen tried to draw a foul as he drove inside the penalty area, but the referee told McGrogan his player took a dive.