Girls’ Soccer: CdM knocked out
Riverside Martin Luther King High girls’ soccer coach Giovanni Napoletano polled his team after Thursday’s game.
“Who wants to eat at In-N-Out?” he asked, then watched as every single player raised her hand.
The victory meal sounded good to the Wolves, who remained in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs.
Corona del Mar is out, after suffering a 4-2 first-round loss to King at Jim Scott Stadium.
King advances to play host to Hart in the second round on Tuesday. For the Sea Kings, their season ends the earliest it has since they didn’t make the playoffs at all in 2007.
CdM was without its head coach, Bryan Middleton, who was issued a red card in the Pacific Coast League finale against Northwood last week. CdM boys’ coach George Larsen assumed head coaching duties for the girls Thursday. Larsen had the time to do so, since CdM’s boys didn’t advance to the postseason.
Larsen saw King (16-8-3), the third-place team from the Big VIII League, advance behind two goals each from Leighana Weaver and Jaelyn Peeples.
CdM took the early lead, as sophomore Leah Givant scored in the sixth minute assisted by Hailey Neumann’s long throw-in. But it wouldn’t last long.
“They had some really good athletes that gave us some problems,” Larsen said. “Even though we scored first, I think they were the more aggressive team. Their athleticism definitely impacted the way the game went. It was a combination of them applying that pressure and sustaining it, along with a couple of mistakes in the back today. A little bit of self-inflicted wounds there, on a couple of those [goals].”
Weaver, bound for the University of Hawaii, tied the game in the 17th minute off a corner kick from teammate Gabriella Cavasos. The score was tied 1-1 at halftime, but King scored three more goals in the first 17 minutes of the first half to seize control.
Weaver got past the defense in the 42nd minute, before taking a sliding shot from the left side of the box that went past CdM keeper Skyler Gullick cross-cage into the right corner. Three minutes later, King added another goal when Peeples’ cross in front of the goal was mis-played by the CdM defense.
In the 57th minute, Peeples scored on a free kick from just outside the box. Suddenly, King had a 4-1 advantage and was rolling.
“I mean, [CdM] is a great team,” Napoletano said. “They’re well-organized, and they try to build up from the back. They came through with that early goal, and sometimes that changes things around. But I think my girls came together and played hard and believed in themselves. It’s good to see that.”
CdM senior co-captain Shelby Brown narrowed the deficit in the 65th minute, but the Sea Kings (10-8-3) couldn’t get closer.
Middleton said in a phone interview that he was proud of his team, which finished second in league to snap a four-year title streak. CdM still qualified for the CIF playoffs for the eighth straight year, and 13th time in Middleton’s 14-year tenure.
But the Sea Kings, who went just 1-4-3 in their final eight games, were unable to capture the magic of last year’s postseason run to the quarterfinals.
CdM’s eight seniors — Brown, Morgan Duss, Tori English, Birkley Sigband, Elise Roche, Zoe Condon, Brynn Motal and Taylor Olsen — gathered in one last huddle after the game, emerging with teary eyes.
“The last four years have been my favorite high school memory,” said Brown, a midfielder and the 2013-14 Newport-Mesa Player of the Year. “I got to spend it all with my best friends. I’m really lucky.”
