Boys’ Soccer: CdM all alone in first

Beckman High traveled to Corona del Mar on Tuesday riding a 16-match unbeaten streak in Pacific Coast League play.

The Sea Kings ended it, doing so at a good time.

In a battle for league supremacy, CdM held on for a 1-0 win.

With three matches left in league, the Sea Kings took sole possession of first place. They improved to 6-1-0 in league, giving the Sea Kings 12 points, two ahead of the Patriots, who dropped to 4-1-2.

The difference between the Sea Kings and Patriots was Blake Munger’s nice flick near midfield that set up Kyle Mabwa’s breakaway goal in the 14th minute, as well as the stellar defensive play by Will Hunter, Rhyan Phan, Nick Gass, Jad Malley and Grant Joyce, and goalkeepers Koen Ebbinga and Christopher Bartolic.

In the final 10 minutes, CdM, which is 14-2-1 overall and ranked No. 9 in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 poll, played a man down. The referee sent Munger off with his second yellow card after he collided with goalkeeper Alejandro Perez in the box.

The Sea Kings kept the Patriots from tying it. They came close in the 77th minute, when David Lee took a shot from the right side, only to see Bartolic dive and get his fingertips on the ball to prevent it from finding the left corner of the net.

“Our one loss [in league] was against them, so I know there was that kind of wanting to get that payback a little bit,” said CdM Coach George Larsen, whose team lost to Beckman, 2-1, at Tustin High on Jan. 12. “We did a really good job today [with our] team defense. The first game David Lee was able to get loose twice on us and he scored two goals. That was something that we talked about going into today, was they were going to get loose at times, and it was our job to defend as a team and to make sure the first defender had cover. We were well balanced across the back. We were supporting each other.”

The one player CdM focused on was Lee. He burned them the past two times the two sides met, the first hurt the Sea Kings’ chances of advancing to the playoffs last season.

This late in the season, CdM needs a win or a Northwood loss on Thursday to clinch one of the league’s three automatic postseason berths. The Sea Kings travel to University on Thursday for a 3:15 p.m. contest, followed up by two league matches at home next week, against Northwood and Irvine.

“We’re pretty confident we can win those games,” Hunter said.

If CdM wins out, it will claim its second outright league title in three seasons.