PREP ROUNDUP : El Toro Ties Up Corona del Mar

Corona del Mar’s seventh-ranked soccer team blew a two-goal lead in the second half and wound up tying ninth-ranked El Toro, 3-3, Wednesday at Lake Forest. The Sea Kings might think twice before allowing another comeback.

Corona del Mar Coach Ray Hales blew off some steam in a postgame lecture as his team sat on the damp ground in chilly temperatures.

“I’m not happy at all,” Hales said after speaking with his team. “We got into a comfort zone. We stopped running. They completely outclassed us in the second half.”

This, after El Toro (3-1-2) had been outplayed in the first half. The Sea Kings (4-0-2) outshot El Toro, 8-3, in the first half and led, 1-0, on Roberto Intriago’s goal.

El Toro tied it at one on Ricky Le’s goal, but Corona del Mar went up 3-1 on a penalty kick goal by Jed Weinstein and a header by Jason Boyce on a nice assist from Josh Weinstein.

But El Toro scored twice in the next eight minutes on goals by Gerald Nedelykovic and Jose Lopez that got by Sea King goalkeeper Justin McKibben. El Toro and Corona del Mar each had one more scoring opportunity but neither could capitalize.

“If I’d say I’m pleased with a tie, I’d say we were lucky,” El Toro Coach Bob Chavez said. “We definitely earned what we got.”