Santa Margarita Battles to a Tie
Friday’s 2-2 tie with El Toro could have been a lot worse for the Santa Margarita boys’ soccer team, which trailed 2-1 until Josh Dunlap scored on a header with five minutes left. But Santa Margarita Coach Curt Bauer was having none of the happy talk.
“I’m not pleased by our effort at all,” Bauer said. “This was our worst overall effort of the year. I’m glad we were able to battle back, but if you have to rely on corner kicks you’re not going to be a very good team.”
Both Santa Margarita goals came off dead-ball kicks by Brian Piesner. Chon Kantikovit scored the first on a header off a Piesner free kick. Dunlap’s header was set up by a Piesner corner.
“He’s dangerous,” El Toro Coach Bob Chavez said of Piesner. “We don’t mark him. But he’s deadly in dead ball situations.”
Santa Margarita (9-4-2, 2-0-1 in the Sea View League) actually took more shots than El Toro, 15-9, but lazy defense got the Eagles in trouble several times. After a scoreless first half, El Toro’s Adam Valderama scored off a rebound seven minutes into the second and then Matt Stein scored off a nifty crossing pass from Ron Davis.
“They think they can live off past history,” Bauer said of his team, which is traditionally one of the county’s top teams. “They think they can walk on the field and teams are just going to fold.”
Had 10th-ranked El Toro (10-3-4, 1-0-2) folded, ninth-ranked Santa Margarita would have been able to take sole possession of first place in the tough Sea View League, where four teams are ranked in the top 10. Instead the Eagles were lucky to come away with a tie and Bauer was disgusted.
“I don’t care if your touch is off, at least have some desire,” he said. “They seemed not to care.”
Chavez said it was more than that.
“We didn’t give them some of the things they’re used to getting and you have to give us credit for that,” he said.
In other league games:
Newport Harbor 4, Corona del Mar 0--Justin Kerr scored twice and Jeremy Ellis had two assists for sixth-ranked Newport Harbor (12-3-4, 1-0-2), which held onto the bell in the Battle of the Bay.
Woodbridge 2, Irvine 0--Makoto Sawada and Yigal Kerzenbaum scored in the second half and Jeff Jensen had two assists for No. 6 Woodbridge (10-3-3, 1-1-1).