Boys’ Soccer: CdM falls to Beckman

TUSTIN — Something wasn’t right when the Corona del Mar High boys’ soccer team arrived at Beckman to play on Tuesday. The home team wasn’t on the field, and it wasn’t planning on making the 3:15 p.m. match.

The Sea Kings showed up too early, almost five hours before the start.

“It was a scheduling oversight where there was one time one place and then another time another [place],” CdM Coach George Larsen said. “It was just a little bit of a mishap.”

The Sea Kings went back to CdM, then home. Larsen, who was on his way to Beckman, also drove home to Aliso Viejo.

The coach and players had three hours to kill before coming back to face Beckman at 7 o’clock. The site changed as well, Tustin High played host to the contest between the two undefeated Pacific Coast League sides.

The Patriots remained perfect in league, earning a 2-1 win. David Lee scored twice, and he’s the same player who proved to be the difference last season when the two programs met on the same field late in league play.

Lee ruined the Sea Kings’ CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoff hopes last season, converting a penalty kick in stoppage time. This time, he hurt CdM (9-2-1, 1-1-0 in league) with both of his feet, handing the Sea Kings their first setback since losing to El Toro, 4-1, on Dec. 21.

Lee scored inside the box with his left foot in the 39th minute and with his right foot on a breakaway in the 44th minute. The senior striker is a big reason why Beckman has won each of its two league matches.

“David Lee is our captain, he’s our leader, and he really showed it tonight on the field,” Beckman Coach Eddie Bairam said. “He scored two fantastic goals, just like he did the other day [in a 3-2 win] against [University]. He’s really making a statement this year. He’s a threat.”

Lee beat both of CdM’s goalkeepers, Christopher Bartolic in the first half and Koen Ebbinga in the second half. The two keepers have been outstanding for CdM, holding seven opponents scoreless in the first 11 matches.

The Sea Kings were the ones were scoreless in the 12th match, until they cut deficit in half in the 63rd minute.

Kyle Mabwa assisted on Grant Joyce’s goal. Mabwa, from the left side and inside the box, sent a nice pass to Joyce, who stood in the middle of the box, where he struck the ball with his left foot, getting it past keeper Alejandro Perez.

The Sea Kings created a handful of scoring chances in the final 10 minutes. Leo Alves tried to poke a shot past Perez from near the top of the box, and Will O’Connor hit one right at Perez from almost the same spot. Jad Malley had two shots from the right side, a low line drive right toward Perez and one that barely sailed over the crossbar, missing the upper-left corner of the net.

The best opportunity to even the score for CdM was in stoppage time. Mabwa created it from the right side, dribbling past a couple defenders near the endline and into the box, before finding Joyce, who had a wide-open net, only to see his shot go wide left.

“It looked like he was trying to turn and get around on [the ball], and it looked like he just lost his footing just enough to kind of disrupt the shot,” said Larsen, who saw Joyce go down with an injury, sidelining the sophomore, along with two other standouts, Blake Munger and Spencer Lamoure, who missed the match with injuries.

“I thought our effort was good. I thought we played good. We created chances. At the end of the day, I think we created more [chances] overall, but they took [advantage of their] chances better than we did.”