Mater Dei Shuts Out San Clemente

Mater Dei Coach Martin Stringer was worried about how his team was going to handle playing an upset-minded team on its own muddy field.

He shouldn’t have been worried.

Neither the mud nor the San Clemente Tritons were a match for the skillful and disciplined Monarchs Wednesday as second-ranked Mater Dei defeated eighth-ranked San Clemente, 2-0, in a game that wasn’t as close as the score.

Mater Dei (13-0-2, 1-0-1) scored 22 minutes into the game on a back kick by Kris Hulgreen that was crossed perfectly to Nick Marin, whose header easily beat San Clemente goalkeeper Kevin Mehrens. Mater Dei outshot San Clemente, 10-7 for the game and 6-3 in the first half.

“I was pleased with our effort considering the conditions and the circumstances,” Stringer said. “The field was better than I thought it would be. We played a lot more disciplined game than I thought we’d be able to. We had a game plan and we stuck with it.”

If anything, the sloppy field might have worked against the home team. San Clemente Coach Michael Pronier said his team hasn’t played in a week because of the field’s mucky condition, which was caused by last week’s hard rains.

“We’re a little rusty,” Pronier said. “This time off hasn’t helped us.”

San Clemente (10-2-3) had been unbeaten entering South Coast League play, but the Tritons have lost two of their first three league games.