Minutes after his Northwood squad captured sole possession of first place in the Pacific Coast League, Timberwolves girls soccer coach Cory Dilbeck made a bold prediction for the second half of league play.
“I don’t think they’ll catch us,” the first-year coach said of Corona del Mar. “I don’t think anybody will catch us.”
While his bold claim will serve as bulletin board material for the rest of the league, Dilbeck’s squad showed Thursday it is capable of making that prediction a reality.
The Timberwolves broke a scoreless tie with a barrage of goals in the final 10 minutes of play Thursday, topping Corona del Mar, 3-0, at Meadowood Park in Irvine, earning control of first place in the PCL standings in the process.
“The biggest thing for me is I knew the girls had it in them from Day One,” Dilbeck said of defeating CdM (9-5-1, 3-1-1), the four-time defending league champs. “We’ve got the talent for it. It’s fun to see them step up and actually get some credit for it.”
With the match headed toward a scoreless draw in the 71st minute, the Timberwolves (12-5-2, 4-0-1) broke through when Danielle Solaru sent a through ball into the box for Talia Telscher, who capitalized with the match’s first scoring strike.
“That was a spark for us,” Solaru explained. “Everyone followed up after that, and we knew what we had to do.”
The junior midfielder doubled the Northwood lead five minutes later, taking advantage of a loose ball Sea Kings keeper Skyler Gullick was unable to handle on a free kick.
Senior Emily Martinez capped the scoring with her goal in the 78th minute, ensuring the Timberwolves three critical points in league play.
In the Freeway League:
Fullerton 1, Sunny Hills 0: Sophomore Bryanna Avina scored on a penalty kick in the 58th minute and the Indians (5-6-4, 1-3-0) pulled off an upset at Fullerton. The league loss was the first for the Lancers (8-6-3, 3-1-0) in more than four years.
In the South Coast League:
No. 1 Aliso Niguel 2, Dana Hills 0: The Wolverines (13-1-1, 4-0-0) grabbed a two-game lead atop the league standings with their road victory. Lauren Miller and Remy Mathews each scored goals in Aliso’s seventh consecutive victory.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
