Royal Makes Its Mark in a 2-2 Tie

Coach Kevin Corley of Royal High said it with a straight face.

“Our defense can’t get the concept of how to mark,” he said.

Corley spent halftime teaching his players to play man-on-man defense and the improvement was noticeable.

The Highlanders shut out Calabasas in the second half and scrounged out a 2-2 tie Friday night in the opening round of the Burroughs tournament.

“We were terrible,” Corley said. “They should have scored a lot more. We didn’t mark. The entire first half it was four on two.

“When we switched to marking backs and went with three forwards, it made the difference. We have a lot of speed up front.”

Calabasas (2-0-1) dominated the first half, taking a 2-0 lead before the Highlanders’ defense tightened, triggering an offensive attack that was absent in the first half.

In a span of three minutes, Royal netted two goals to tie the game and shock the Coyotes who easily could have led, 5-0, if not for having three shots hit the post in the first half.

“Two different halves,” said Coach John Reich of Calabasas. “Giving up the lead stupidly like we did. We just lost our composure and never really regained it.”

Part of the reason was because the Highlanders shut down forward Itzik Rapaport.

Rapaport, who controlled the flow of play in the first half, had only one chance to score in the second half but missed a one-on-one against goalkeeper Christian Jensen of Royal.

“They made sure I was marked by at least two guys,” said Rapaport, who has five goals in three games. “They hit me and hit me hard.

“For little guys, we battled well. I give them the credit. They are a good team. They took it to us.”

The Highlanders (0-0-1) cut the lead to 2-1 in the 62nd minute when forward Peter Bauman split two defenders and beat goalkeeper Jared Goldstein from 25 yards.

“I wasn’t worried, even when we were down, 2-0,” Corley said.

Minutes later, Bauman sent a cross just inside the 18-yard box to Evan Kay, who beat Goldstein in the air and headed the ball in to tie the score.

“He was wide open,” said Goldstein, who had six saves. “I thought I was going to win it. I came out to try to pressure him.”

The Coyotes took a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute when Rapaport took a through ball and beat Jensen to his left.

“They turned it over,” Rapaport said. “I got a great ball and was one-on-one with the keeper, and slipped it in the near post.”

Doug Weitzbuch put the Coyotes ahead, 2-0, when he half-volleyed a corner kick through a crowd of defenders into the lower left corner of the goal in the 35th minute.