Aliso Niguel Swings for First Sea View Title

It was a season of firsts for the Aliso Niguel girls’ golf team last fall, and now the boys’ team is trying to keep pace.

The Wolverine girls won the school’s first league title in golf, then finished third at the Southern Section championships and second in the CIF-WSCGA finals.

While the boys’ team isn’t thinking ahead to the postseason, it has the opportunity to match at least one of those feats. Aliso Niguel can win its first league title in boys’ golf with a Sea View League victory over Woodbridge next Tuesday.

With two league matches left, the Wolverines are 6-0 and Woodbridge is 5-1. Aliso Niguel defeated Woodbridge in a home match earlier this month, but Coach Wayne Westling isn’t counting on an easy road victory for the next match, which will be at Rancho San Joaquin.

“We’ve never beaten them at Rancho,” Westling said. “Granted, we haven’t played there a ton of times, but we’ve beaten them at Strawberry Farms and at our place but we haven’t beaten them there. If we play well, we could finish the league undefeated. If we don’t, we could end up in second place.”

That seems unlikely with the way the team has been playing. Sophomore Joseph Kim has twice posted rounds of three-under 33, including once in a victory last week over Irvine. Senior Matt Schreiber has been consistently in the high-30s and senior Ben Adams, an all-league soccer player, has emerged to give the Wolverines depth.

Aliso Niguel shot a season-best two-over 182 in a 21-stroke victory over Irvine. The first time the Wolverines played the Vaqueros, the margin of victory was four and the improvement has Westling smiling.

“The kids are playing well when it counts,” Westling said. “I’m a little surprised, but I kind of hoped that we would have played this well from the start of the season.”

PACIFIC COASTING

Corona del Mar and University, who meet next Tuesday for the second time this season, are having a case of deja vu in the Pacific Coast League race.

Earlier this season, University went to Newport Beach Country Club and defeated the Sea Kings by a stroke.

Last year, the Trojans defeated Corona del Mar at Newport Beach Country Club in their first meeting of the year. The Sea Kings came back to tie University with a victory in Round 2 and won the league tiebreaker, which is performance at league finals.

Corona del Mar Coach Mike Starkweather is hoping the scenario repeats itself.

“It’s just like last year,” he said. “It’s the same situation.”

With brothers John and Joe Kwon averaging about 38 and a group of four others just behind them, Starkweather said the team is peaking at the right time.

“It seems like every day we have a different leader,” he said. “That’s good because it keeps everyone sharp.”

TEAM TO BEAT

Santa Barbara San Marcos dropped off the radar screen last year when the Royals did not qualify for the Southern Section finals, but the proud program has shown it is back to its form of 1999, when the Royals won both the Southern Section and CIF-SCGA titles.

In a four-day span last week, San Marcos defeated Santa Margarita and Servite.

*

If you have an item or idea for the boys’ golf report, you can fax us at (714) 966-5663 or e-mail us at peter.yoon@latimes.com

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BOYS’ GOLF TOP 10

Orange County Sportswriters’ Poll

*--*

Pos. School League Rec 1. Servite (1) Serra 7-6 2. Santa Margarita (2) Serra 8-2 3. Brea Olinda (6) Orange 13-2 4. Capistrano Valley (3) South Coast 14-3 5. Huntington Beach (4) Sunset 11-2 6. Aliso Niguel (10) Sea View 10-3 7. San Clemente (5) South Coast 8-5 8. Woodbridge (8) Sea View 9-2 9. Esperanza (9) Sunset 10-3 10. El Toro (NR) South Coast 9-3

*--*

Last week’s rankings in parentheses