Santa Margarita Peaks at Right Time

Trabuco Hills probably wishes its game at Santa Margarita had been played two months ago instead of Thursday. Because in late December, Trabuco Hills was playing as well as any boys’ soccer team in Orange County and Santa Margarita wasn’t even among the county’s top 20 teams.

But a lot can change in two months, as evidenced by Santa Margarita’s 3-0 victory over second-seeded Trabuco Hills in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section Division III playoffs. Santa Margarita, which has won the last two Division III titles, looked like a team headed for a three-peat, dominating throughout.

The Eagles (17-7-4), who returned only two starters, have won nine of their last 10 after starting the Sea View League with an 0-2-1 record. They have not allowed a goal in the playoffs, outscoring their three opponents, 8-0. Thursday, they outshot Trabuco Hills, 17-7, and could have easily scored five or six goals had they done a better job of converting their scoring opportunities.

“We’re just kind of cruising,” Santa Margarita Coach Curt Bauer said. “There’s no other way to explain it.”

And Trabuco Hills sweeper Scot Thompson said there wasn’t any way to explain the Mustangs’ sub-par performance other than they were listless.

“I don’t know, it wasn’t there at all,” Thompson said. “I’ve been sick [with the flu] the last couple days. I wasn’t into it and maybe that spread to the rest of the team.”

Thompson, who recently signed with UCLA, seemed a step slow, as did his teammates. It didn’t help matters that the Mustangs (16-8-5) were missing maybe their best all-around player, midfielder Jared Hayman, who injured his ribs in the Mustangs’ second-round victory over Rosemead.

Without Hayman in the middle, Santa Margarita’s midfielders were able to win most of the 50-50 balls. That made things tough on Thompson and the rest of Trabuco Hills’ defenders.

“On this wide field, we’re able to move the ball around and spread the field,” Bauer said. “If we could finish, we’d be really scary.”

Santa Margarita scored first in the 25th minute on a Ryan Curtis rebound of a Spencer George chip shot that Trabuco Hills goalkeeper Jay Arntson couldn’t control off the crossbar. The Eagles didn’t waste any time extending their halftime lead--scoring less than 10 seconds in on Jonathan Nebot’s left-footed grounder that was set up by Sebastian Galmarini’s pass.

Galmarini closed out the scoring when he redirected a cross from Curtis in the 71st minute. Santa Margarita also had a goal nullified on an offsides call and three more stopped on diving saves by Arntson.

Santa Margarita will play Compton Dominguez in the semifinals.