Free Kick

COSTA MESA - Instead of the usual hand-slaps after the game, a few of the Corona del Mar High and Beckman girls' soccer players exchanged hugs after Tuesday night's Pacific Coast League match. They had good reason. Four CdM players - senior defenders Amanda Stephenson and Sydney Raguse and junior midfielders Annie Alvarado and Karsten Sigband - play club soccer for Breakaway. Patriots juniors Nikki Martino, Natalie Rockwell and Kori Decker also play for the club. Decker is the starting goalie for Beckman.

COSTA MESA — Guesswork isn’t on the agenda for the Andersen Elementary girls’ third-and fourth-grade Gold Division team. The Dolphins expect to win. They have history on their side, because they represent the closest thing the Daily Pilot Cup has to a dynasty. On Saturday at the Farm Sports Complex, Andersen took a step closer to its seventh straight girls’ 3-4 Gold Division crown. Behind a hat trick from Caroline Bethel, the Dolphins topped Pegasus School in a semifinal, 3-1. Andersen will face Carden Hall in the division’s championship game today at noon at Farm field No. 5. After the semifinal game, the girls didn’t need prodding to say that they want to get that seventh straight title for their school.

The Breakaway soccer team won the Cal South Soccer League Girls Under 14 Gold Division league title on Saturday, November 1st by defeating the Slammers FC by a score of 1-0. Breakaway scored in the first half off a free kick outside the 18 yard box by Annie Alvarado that bounced off the goal keeper's hands and was driven in the net by Taylor Aldrette. Breakaway finished the season with a 9-1-1 record with 18 goals scored and 6 against. The 12-team Gold division consists of premier club teams throughout Southern California ranging from Temecula to Camarillo.

Steve Virgen NEWPORT BEACH - The weak spot of the Newport Harbor High girls soccer team reared its ugly head Thursday. Fortunately, for the Sailors, the results weren't as unsightly as Harbor settled for a 1-1 tie with visiting Mater Dei in nonleague action. The Tars' weak spot ... "We need to work on our consistency," Newport Harbor Coach Jason Sorrell said. "We play good in spurts. If we can play 80 minutes the way we can play, then we can beat teams."

COSTA MESA - It has been an eventful week for the Corona del Mar High girls' soccer team, even though Thursday's game against University was their only one of the week. On Tuesday, CdM learned it had clinched its second straight outright league title following Uni's victory over Beckman. On Wednesday, four of CdM's top players - seniors Ally Brahs (Washington), Amanda Stephenson (George Mason), Sydney Raguse (Michigan) and goalie Sarah Cox (Stanford) - signed national letters of intent.

Tony Altobelli LAGUNA HILLS - The fortunate bounces that have evaded Newport Harbor High's girls soccer team made their appearance in Tuesday's 2-0 Sea View League win over host Laguna Hills. "We've been in a bunch of our games, but just haven't gotten any good luck," Coach Jason Sorrell said. "Today, we played hard as a team and kept the pressure on the other team. It was a good win for us." First-half goals by Tory Manchester and Laura Kauth were the difference for the Sailors (2-6-2, 1-1 in league)

COSTA MESA ? Any game between geographically-close Andersen Elementary and Harbor Day School is a rivalry game between the two schools. Many of the students play club soccer together. Playing for his school, Nicolas Sargeant made sure this battle had a happy ending for Harbor Day. Sargeant had a pair of assists in the final three minutes of the game as Harbor Day came out on top, 2-0, in a boys' third- and fourth-grade Gold game. With the win, the Seahawks (2-0) clinch their pool and an automatic bid into the quarterfinals.

FULLERTON ? It's a good thing Gannon Burks trusts his players. The Estancia High boys' soccer team had a free kick from 30 yards out, trailing 2-1, with 16 minutes remaining in its second game of pool play in the West Coast High School Classic at Cal State Fullerton Wednesday. Burks, the team's coach, had designed a play, but senior stopper Robert Abarca stepped in and suggested he take the free kick. Burks agreed and Abarca bounced a shot through the defense and past the frozen Clovis West goalkeeper for the equalizer in the Eagles' 2-2 tie of defending Central Section Division I champion Clovis West (10-1-3)

Rick Devereux A trend is starting to emerge when the Corona del Mar High boys soccer team faces Pacific Coast League counterpart Tesoro. CdM starts slow but builds energy and momentum to play a strong second half. That's what happened Wednesday when the Sea Kings lost at Tesoro, 1-0, and again Monday when the teams played to a 0-0 tie at CdM. If the Sea Kings could have pulled off the win Monday -- a make-up game for a match rained out earlier in the season -- they would have been tied with Tesoro for first place in the Pacific Coast League.

COSTA MESA — In the second half, Estancia High boys' soccer coach Gannon Burks played a lineup consisting of all seniors. Even with a somewhat tenuous two-goal lead against cross-town rival Costa Mesa, he knew he could count on the seniors, many of whom are reserves for the Eagles. After all, it's the senior class that is leaving with a Orange Coast League championship banner, which was earned even before the Eagles' 2-0 win Wednesday over the Mustangs in the regular-season finale for both teams.

COSTA MESA - The Artesia High boys' soccer team played the ball ahead late in the first half, and an Estancia defender seemed to commit a hand-ball penalty. Estancia Coach Robert Castellano said his team may have watched the play for just a second, expecting the call. Artesia junior forward Alejandro Martinez did no such thing. "He's a kid that doesn't stop," Artesia Coach Rudy Magallon said. Martinez kept playing, gaining possession as no whistle was blown. The only thing he was stopping was the Eagles' season.

COSTA MESA - It has been an eventful week for the Corona del Mar High girls' soccer team, even though Thursday's game against University was their only one of the week. On Tuesday, CdM learned it had clinched its second straight outright league title following Uni's victory over Beckman. On Wednesday, four of CdM's top players - seniors Ally Brahs (Washington), Amanda Stephenson (George Mason), Sydney Raguse (Michigan) and goalie Sarah Cox (Stanford) - signed national letters of intent.

They seem like an unlikely pair: a Costa Mesa police detective and a former professional soccer star from Sierra Leone. But a common purpose of supplying children in need with soccer gear unites Dana Potts and former Galaxy soccer star Abdul Sesay. They ship new and used soccer equipment to the coastal West African country. Their goal, as part of SoCalKicks4Kids , is to help children who love the sport but lack the equipment to play the "beautiful game. " Potts, who coached his daughter's team, noticed the quick turnover of soccer gear in AYSO, and thought the equipment could be put to a better purpose.

IRVINE — What could easily qualify as the best run in UC Irvine women's soccer history continued Friday night, thanks to a dramatic and fortuitous skip. Junior CoCo Goodson's slicing free kick from 28 yards out, averted a three-player defensive wall, then fooled Pacific goalkeeper Tashia Long with 1:40 left in the second overtime to give the Anteaters another sign that they are in the midst of a season that has, thus far, been special. Goodson's goal was the difference in a 1-0 Big West Conference-opening triumph.

COSTA MESA — At around 5-foot-9, Jacob Ruelas already towers over all the other kids on the field at the Daily Pilot Cup. But on Wednesday afternoon at Costa Mesa High, Ruelas showed Adams that he had the big leg to match. Ruelas scored on a long direct free kick in the 13th minute, helping spur the Rea fifth- and sixth-grade silver division boys to a 3-0 victory. The kick was so long, at around 40 yards straightaway, but Rea Coach Brian Garrido was confident. Garrido, a sophomore at Newport Harbor High, has seen Ruelas make shots like those in practice all the time.

ALISO VIEJO — When you’ve won a CIF Southern Section Division IV title, come in having outscored teams, 77-13, and are ranked No. 9 nationally by ESPN Rise, being handed the underdog label is a gift too good to waste. Then JSerra, the CIF Southern Section Division I champion that played host to Thursday’s CIF Southern California Regional Division II boys’ soccer semifinal at Aliso Niguel High, decided to give Corona del Mar the gift that kept on giving. “We were beyond fired up,” said CdM sophomore goalkeeper Connor Gaal after he made big saves and senior Reed Williams scored two goals to help spark the visitors’ 3-2 victory.

COSTA MESA — Since Gannon Burks became head coach six seasons ago, the postseason for the Estancia High boys’ soccer team had always been nothing more than a two-step. But, thanks to an offensive one-two, converting both of its first-half shots against second-round visitor Inglewood Wednesday, the No. 4-seeded Eagles will Cha-Cha into the CIF Southern Section Division IV quarterfinals. Estancia converted twice in the first 31 minutes and held on for a 2-1 win Wednesday, breaking new ground for Burks, who told his jubilant players afterward that he would have to create a new goal for the rest of the season.

The Breakaway soccer team won the Cal South Soccer League Girls Under 14 Gold Division league title on Saturday, November 1st by defeating the Slammers FC by a score of 1-0. Breakaway scored in the first half off a free kick outside the 18 yard box by Annie Alvarado that bounced off the goal keeper's hands and was driven in the net by Taylor Aldrette. Breakaway finished the season with a 9-1-1 record with 18 goals scored and 6 against. The 12-team Gold division consists of premier club teams throughout Southern California ranging from Temecula to Camarillo.

COSTA MESA — Guesswork isn’t on the agenda for the Andersen Elementary girls’ third-and fourth-grade Gold Division team. The Dolphins expect to win. They have history on their side, because they represent the closest thing the Daily Pilot Cup has to a dynasty. On Saturday at the Farm Sports Complex, Andersen took a step closer to its seventh straight girls’ 3-4 Gold Division crown. Behind a hat trick from Caroline Bethel, the Dolphins topped Pegasus School in a semifinal, 3-1. Andersen will face Carden Hall in the division’s championship game today at noon at Farm field No. 5. After the semifinal game, the girls didn’t need prodding to say that they want to get that seventh straight title for their school.