SOUTH COAST LEAGUE BOYS’ SOCCER : Mater Dei a Step Closer to Title and Playoffs

Mater Dei Coach Martin Stringer didn’t want to talk about the playoffs or a possible league championship, even though both appeared likely Friday after the second-ranked Monarchs’ 1-0 South Coast League victory over San Clemente in Santa Ana.

“I won’t even mention it until we’ve mathematically clinched it,” Stringer said.

But Stringer’s players weren’t so cautious. Senior Ryan Chaput, who assisted Kevin Quigley on the game’s only goal 20 minutes into the second half, said the team can sense a league championship.

“We wanted this one bad,” Chaput said. “With three games left, we’re two points clear of everybody.”

Mater Dei improved to 18-1-3, 5-1-1 league. San Clemente’s title hopes disappeared as the Tritons fell to 7-8-6 and 1-2-4.

“We’ve got six points and I think we’ll need 10 to go to the playoffs, which means we’ll have to win two of our last three games,” San Clemente Coach Michael Pronier said. “The guys played well. Mater Dei is one of the best teams in the county and we were right with them.”

On the scoreboard, yes, but not on the shot chart. The Monarchs controlled play for much of the 80 minutes, with 11 shots to San Clemente’s five.

The Tritons’ best chance to score came late in the first half when Brock Munson missed a wide-open shot from in front of the goal.

Mater Dei had scoring opportunities all day, but finally cashed in when Chaput headed Mike McCabe’s corner kick to Quigley.

“Mike does a heck of a job looking for me,” Chaput said. “All I’ve ever been taught is to head the ball back the way it came.”

In other league games:

Capistrano Valley 2, Mission Viejo 1--Jud Nester and Marc Springer each scored second-half goals for Capistrano Valley (12-5-3, 4-2-1). Robert Rodgers scored for Mission Viejo (3-11-4, 2-3-2).

El Toro 5, Dana Hills 0--Jose Lopez, Chris Linkhorn, Deiter Segura, Joe Karlan and Mark Janji each scored to lead El Toro (14-3-4, 4-2-1), the eighth-ranked team in the county.