CdM outlasts Wildcats

BREA — Before the Corona del Mar High girls’ soccer team could worry about defeating Brea Olinda, they had to warm up on a field that just wasn’t all that desirable. And, before the Sea Kings could be in full force, the girls that participated in the school’s youth and government trip had to return and be ready to play.

Then, the girls would have to overcome an emotionally draining, physically exhausting, 80-minute match of CIF Southern Section Division II playoff soccer.

Fortunately for Coach Bryan Middleton and his Sea Kings, adversity was entirely conquerable as CdM survived a 1-0 win over the Wildcats in Brea.

Despite yellow cards on co-captain Lexi Hensen and sophomore Hayley Raguse, the Sea Kings (13-7-3) kept battling until the final whistle was blown.

Just 10 minutes into the nail-biting contest, Hensen dribbled the ball on the Wildcat side of the field, lost the ball and then Raguse recovered it, striking it past the Wildcat goalie’s legs for the only goal of the game.

Not bad for a player nursing an ankle injury.

“It was pretty lucky ... it was all the work from Lexi making it go forward and it just popped out,” Raguse said. “I got lucky because their real goalie wasn’t there and it went right between her legs.”

Both teams fatigued late in the second half, as the game intensified and players became more physical.

At the 33-minute mark of the second half, Hensen became entangled with a Wildcat player. She then pushed off the player’s arm, received the yellow card and walked off the field, shaking her head with frustration.

Hensen then cleaned blood off of her shin and coughed into a tissue, visibly winded.

“I don’t really know how to put it in a good way, but I get a little aggressive sometimes,” said Hensen, a senior. “We came into the game a little bit iffy because we had girls flying back from youth and government trip so it’s just kind of all over the place, but we pulled together. I’m really sick but I just gave it my all [although] I was kind of dying at the end.”

After the yellow card on Hensen, the emotion magnified as both teams battled. Girls constantly fell for both sides, and fans of both teams let out constant signs of disapproval when a girl was knocked down.

At the 80-minute mark, when the game was all but over, Raguse dribbled the ball toward the left sideline and the ball barely went out of bounds. She didn’t hear a whistle, so she kept dribbling and kicked the ball at the Wildcat goalie. The referee then showed her his yellow card.

“[The referee] didn’t even blow his whistle, so once again, bad refereeing,” Middleton said. “The ref didn’t really move 15 yards out of the center. You can’t call a game that way, so it got a little chippy, but that’s because he couldn’t control the game. Brea Olinda won the first five minutes of the game and we won the second 75.”

The Sea Kings defense constantly deflected any attack from the Wildcats. Middleton credited freshman defenders Hannah Rome, Scarlett Fallon and sweeper Kaylee O’Connor, for stepping up and helping the Sea Kings advance to the second round Wednesday against Moorpark, which won at Pasadena, 1-0 in overtime. The game against Moorpark will be at a site determined by a coin flip.

CdM freshman goalkeeper Lindsey Luke deflected balls all game long and Middleton was impressed, especially considering how unpredictable the crowned field was.

“Phenomenal,” Middleton said. “She came up huge in the goal. There’s not a lot of keepers that are going to win 20 one-on-one’s out there with the ball bouncing.”

Luke wouldn’t be fazed either way, never letting the pressure get to her.

“We just played with a lot of heart and just stuck it through,” Luke said. “I just [try to] keep the team pumped.”