Laguna Beach boys’ soccer tops Marina for first win in Wave League
It’s been a tough first two months of the season for Laguna Beach’s boys’ soccer team, which has struggled to finish opportunities and conceded too many goals while dropping nine of its first 13 encounters.
So the Breakers’ superb performance Friday afternoon at Marina — a 3-1 Wave League win built on two scrappy first-half goals, a second-half breakaway and expert defensive work, especially from center back Dakota Guzman and holding midfielder Scott Mead — offered a bit of redemption and perhaps more than that.
Jaxson Hutcheon struck twice after Dylan Petrie-Norris tallied a little past midway through the first half, and Laguna Beach (4-9-1 overall, 1-1 in the Wave League) held on at the finish to upend the Vikings (5-6-3, 1-1) and provide itself some genuine confidence at a key moment.
“You need a little bit of hope, don’t you?” Breakers head coach Andy Thomas said. “Today was about getting us hope. It’s a turning point, because we’ve got a victory away from home, and now we can build on that, and hopefully, it’s now a bigger glimmer of hope to get into the playoffs.”
Laguna Beach hasn’t been to the CIF Southern Section postseason since 2018, its last year in the Orange Coast League, but another win Wednesday at home against Fountain Valley would put it in strong position midway through the Wave League slate. They’re behind only Huntington Beach (4-6-3, 2-0), which followed Wednesday’s 6-1 rout of the Breakers with a 2-1 win at Fountain Valley (5-8, 0-2) on Kainoa Delarole’s overtime goal.
“[This win] means everything,” said Hutcheon, one of two seniors in the Breakers’ lineup. “I really think that’s going to put us in the right direction so we can come out on top in the season and make it to CIF.”
Laguna Beach had the better of play most of the way and was efficient when opportunities arrived. The first came in the 23rd minute, when Grant Regal’s ball into the goalmouth from the right side ricocheted to the top of the box. Hutcheon doubled the advantage in a similar situation nine minutes later, rocketing the ball into the net’s ceiling after Ty Tranbarger’s cross was knocked aside.
“They’ve played very well [this year],” said Thomas, who was missing two starters, including Luke Singer, who partners Guzman in central defense and was ably replaced by Keanu Mir-Scaer. “We haven’t really done well in front of goal, we haven’t worked goalkeepers very well, we’ve done all the nice buildup play, we’ve possessed the ball very nicely, but the final-third stuff’s been lacking.
“Today, we took our chances, and the defense really stepped up today. ... They should believe in themselves now.”
Marina, looking for its first playoff berth in a generation, was coming off a 4-2 win over Fountain Valley that sharpened its chances, but opportunities went amiss, a second-half goal was disallowed, and it was 3-0 when Hutcheon finished a breakaway from Mir-Scaer’s long goal kick in the 55th minute.
Ryan Spielman made it 3-1 in the 64th minute, finishing from Tyler McCrory’s feed, but Dominic Ortenzo shot high two minutes later with Cole Anderson well off his line and Quinn Hartman nodded a free kick over the net in the 73rd minute.
“We gave up two goals [early] and we got flustered and the players struggled from that point,” Vikings head coach Gabe Lucatero said. “It’s got to be better.”
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