Sage lacks finishing kick

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — The St. Magaret’s School boys’ soccer team stuck to the business of finishing Friday to avenge what the Tartans deemed a bit of unfinished business against Academy League rival Sage Hill.

The Lightning won the Jan. 8 meeting on their campus, when officials called the game about midway through the second half with the hosts leading, 1-0.

That victory gave Sage Hill (8-2-4, 6-1-1 in league) a leg up on St. Margaret’s in the league standings.

But the Tartans knocked that leg out from under the visiting Lightning Friday, scoring in each half to claim a 2-0 triumph that gives them the inside track on the league crown.

St. Margaret’s (13-2-2, 7-1) now has a two-point lead over Sage (three points for a win and one for a tie) with two league games remaining.

“We’re probably going to finish second,” Sage Coach Noureddine El Alam said. “Our kids played hard, but [the Tartans] deserved to win. They played connected.”

There was little passing connection needed on the two St. Margaret’s goals, both of which resulted from booming drives that found the net.

Junior midfielder Drew Lind opened the scoring in the 18th minute, finishing his own run by pumping a low, hard shot from 20 yards out that proved too hot for the Sage goalkeeper to handle. The keeper lunged at the ball and got two outstretched hands on it. But the extreme pace on the shot, as well as the moisture on the ball courtesy of a consistent rain that lasted most of the contest, did not allow him to collect the save.

Senior Connor Edgcomb added insurance in the 61st minute, once again finishing his own run by lacing the ball just inside the opposite post. The precise angle of the shot left the goalie no chance for a save.

“Since the first Sage Hill game, we’ve been really practicing hard on finishing,” Tartans Coach Bryan Harney said. “Our mantra is ‘Test the keeper.’ ”

Ironically, the finishers on both goals played Academy soccer last season, Harney said, but elected to return to the high school ranks (which do not allow crossover participation), to try to help the Tartans, ranked No. 6 in CIF Southern Section Division VII, earn at least a league championship.

Sage Hill, ranked No. 5 in Division VII, will now need help to have a chance at a league crown. The Lightning finish the season at third-place Oxford Academy Tuesday and at home against Whitney on Thursday. Oxford and Sage played to a scoreless tie on Jan. 12.

St. Margaret’s finishes at Brethren Christian (Tuesday) and at Oxford Academy (Thursday). It beat Brethren, 4-0, and Oxford, 3-0, in the first round.

Chasing another team has been unfamiliar to the Lightning for much of this season, said El Alam, who noted that coming from behind Friday was also difficult.

“I think the biggest problem was that we did not know how to play from behind,” said El Alam, whose squad had outscored league foes, 14-2, heading into Friday.

Sage Hill was also on an 11-game unbeaten streak before being blanked for the third time this season.

“The kids didn’t make good decisions,” El Alam said. “They were confused sometimes. They were so concerned about playing fast, they did not play smart. We shuffled the team so much, we lost shape.”

El Alam said he shifted junior sweeper Ben Capaldi into the midfield to try to provide a spark.

The Sage coach also praised the work of senior midfielder Nick Singarella.

Sophomores Taylor Ross and Colton Gyulay accounted for the two Sage shots on goal.

“It’s a great win for us.” Harney said. “The first Sage Hill game was cut short due to fog with them up one. So, we kind of looked at that as unfinished business.”

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].