Boys’ Lacrosse: Sea Kings give thumbs up for Kline’s all-around play

The ice bath was ready for Max Kline and two of his Corona del Mar High boys’ lacrosse teammates on Wednesday. The two waited for Kline to climb in first. He wasn’t quite ready.

Taking the nine-minute bath isn’t fun, but the bath is one Kline takes a couple of times a week to recharge his body from all the bumps and bruises. His thumbs have suffered the most, having broken the right one twice and left one once.

The thumbs are safe whenever Kline plays. Under his gloves, he wears hard plastic protectors. At first, the device was uncomfortable, but he has adjusted.

Kline is just happy to be back at CdM and playing his favorite sport. Last year, he was homeschooled and didn’t play for the Sea Kings.

“It was definitely different,” Kline said of last school year. “I wasn’t lonely, but I think that a big part of my life is my social network through school. I think that it was definitely something I had to become accustomed to, not seeing 300 kids I know.

“It was a little awkward [when I returned] at first. But I mean I’ve known these [seniors] since … we were 7 years old, when I moved here [from New York].”

Kline said the Sea Kings welcomed him back with open arms. Kline has made an impact in his senior year, contributing to CdM’s 7-0 start. The attacker is a dynamic player, and what stands out aren’t the 21 goals and 16 assists Kline has produced, but it’s his unselfish play.

Kline can spark the offense, evident from the 10 goals and eight assists he recorded in the Sea Kings’ last three wins. Last week, they beat Los Alamitos, 15-3, and won at archrival Newport Harbor, 15-2, in the Battle of the Bay. On Tuesday, CdM posted a 15-0 shutout against Saint Viator, from Arlington Heights, Ill.

Kline is one of many talented players at CdM and what makes them great is how well they work together. One person responsible for the team chemistry is CdM assistant coach Jeremy Sieverts. Just the other day, Kline said Sieverts talked to the team about not being envious of the player who scored a handful of goals and assisted on a couple of goals in a game. Be happy for that player was the message.

Whether Kline finds the back of the net or someone else does, he said he feels the same way. He has been one happy 18-year-old. Stopping Kline and attackers Jordan Greenhall, Nino Chavez, and midfielders Sherwin Gersten, Ben Palitz and Stephen Von Der Ahe is one tall order.

“You got to defend all six of them all the time,” CdM Coach G.W. Mix said. “I don’t care how good you are on defense.”

Opposing defenses haven’t fared well against CdM, which has totaled 115 goals. Mix said it has been a while since CdM has been this dangerous on offense and from a lot of other different places on the field.

The Sea Kings always seem to have possession because of faceoff specialist Jason Simaan, a junior bound for Brown. On defense, CdM has the Crance twins, Hugh, a senior defender heading to Notre Dame, and Hoyt, a senior goalie going to Yale. The defense has only allowed 11 goals. Out of the defensive end, the Sea Kings are good in transition and have guys like Denver-bound senior Brett Greenlee who can score with the long stick.

The team has the makings of another perfect one. The Sea Kings finished undefeated three years ago, capping a 24-0 season with a U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section title. The historic season is one Kline was a member of late in the season. The team called him up for the postseason. Kline didn’t contribute, but he learned a few things.

“I see leadership qualities that are similar,” Kline said. “It’s hard to compare because I was so young. I wasn’t really around the older kids as much as I would have liked to be throughout the season, and watching them kind of build themselves into the championship caliber team they were. But I think we have great leaders this year and I think that’s a big part of a championship team is leadership.”

The halfway point of the regular season is on Friday, when Kline and the Sea Kings travel for their first of three tests during a seven-day span. The first matchup features CdM, ranked No. 4 in the state by laxpower.com, at No. 2 San Diego Torrey Pines (6-3) at 7 p.m. During spring break next week, the Sea Kings are at No. 14 San Jose Bellarmine Prep on Tuesday and at Kentfield Marin Catholic on Friday.

The Sea Kings are coming off their first shutout, while Torrey Pines lost to the No. 14-ranked team in the country, Regis Jesuit of Aurora, Colo., 9-7, on Wednesday. Mix and a couple of members on his staff planned to watch the contest to get a better feel of Torrey Pines in person.

Before the coaches left CdM, Kline couldn’t avoid the ice bath any longer. He had to join Gersten and Greenhall for an ice bath.

“They’re waiting for me to jump in,” Kline said. “We’re going to go in together and finish together. It’s teamwork.”

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Max Kline

Born: March 17, 1997

Hometown: New York, N.Y.

Height: 5-foot-7

Weight: 145 pounds

Year: Senior

Coach: G.W. Mix

Favorite food: New York pizza

Favorite movie: “Prisoners”

Favorite athletic moment: “My eighth-grade club basketball team. We were playing up in the Newport Coast Community Center. My friend Brett Greenlee, [who’s now] a long stick [midfielder at CdM who’s] going to Denver [to play lacrosse], stole the ball [against] the Tustin Evolution. There was like 15 seconds left, maybe. He threw it to one of the kids [who just wrapped up his final season] on the [CdM] basketball team, Kevin Fults, for an alley-oop. He scored with maybe eight seconds left and that was what gave us the win.”

Week in review: Kline had eight goals and seven assists in the Sea Kings’ wins against Los Alamitos and Newport Harbor.