Sea Kings stymied again in loss

Corona del Mar girls play solid soccer against Trabuco Hills, but two late goals spell doom and third consecutive loss.NEWPORT BEACH -- The Corona del Mar High girls’ soccer team has played well against top-notch competition, but has little to show for it three games into the season.

CdM scored the first goal Thursday, but couldn’t hold on in the last 20 minutes of a 2-1 nonleague loss to Trabuco Hills.

Even so, the Sea Kings may be the best 0-3 team around. One of those losses was a 2-1 decision to Mater Dei, ranked No. 2 in CIF Southern Section Division I.

“I would think so,” CdM Coach Bryan Middleton said. “We’ve played ranked teams, but the last 20 minutes of games, for some reason, we’re allowing teams to put it away on us. We’ll learn from this and have the mistakes ironed out before league starts.”

A solid Sea Kings defensive effort -- led by Ali Torres, Hannah Rollins and Phoebe Chang -- held the Mustangs down for most of the game.

CdM, which had trouble generating offense, didn’t get its first shot on goal until five minutes into the second half.

Halfway through the second half, Kelly Morgan’s shot in the 18-yard box banked off a Trabuco Hills defender and out to Chang, who beat the Mustangs goalkeeper on the far side from 20 yards out to give the Sea Kings a 1-0 lead.

“We were just waiting for one ball to come out of the box, and I just happened to be there to finish it,” said Chang, an All-CIF Southern Section Division II second-team pick last season.

After Chang came out of the game briefly with a leg cramp, Trabuco Hills’ Christina Murillo sent a corner kick from the right side curving toward the net, and Carolyn Jones headed it in to tie the score, 1-1.

Both teams had scoring chances that ended in caroms. Morgan took a pass from Kaliegh Trider just outside the Mustangs’ box, and sent a left-footed chip shot off the crossbar. Trabuco Hills’ Kaylynn Woolsey responded with a header off the crossbar off a long throw-in deep in Sea Kings territory.

Trabuco Hills scored the game-winner late in the second half when Woolsey found Katie Tribby charging up the middle.

Tribby dribbled in on CdM goalkeeper Alexandre Elias, and her shot banked off Elias into the goal.

The Sea Kings did not have any scoring opportunities the last 15 minutes of the game.

“I feel we wanted it more,” Chang said. “They got those two goals, and we kept fighting, but luck didn’t go our way.”

Middleton was pleased with the overall performance of the team, but said he is concerned about the team’s play late in games.

“I feel good about the way we played,” he said. “But now we’ve had three similar losses, which could be frustrating to the girls. We have a good opportunity on Tuesday against Sage Hill to make some adjustments.”

“I think we’ll take this as a learning experience and the wins will come our way,” Chang said.

Nonleague

Trabuco Hills 2, Corona del Mar 1

Score by Quarters