Lincoln blanks Rea

Barry Faulkner

For the Lincoln Elementary fifth- and sixth-grade boys soccer team,

familiarity breeds success.

The Leopards not only have a roster stocked with club players, but

they have several players who have played together in their various

club affiliations.

The result is a polished, selfless and impressive brand of play

that has propelled Lincoln into the Gold division semifinals of the

Daily Pilot Cup.

The Leopards defeated Rea’s No. 2 team, 2-0, Saturday at the Costa

Mesa Farm Sports Complex to advance to today’s 9 a.m. semifinal

against Harbor Day.

Harbor Day defeated Kaiser, 10-2, in another quarterfinal

Saturday.

“Every kid but one plays club soccer and they’re all good

players,” Lincoln Coach John Curci said. “Three of them play together

on the same club team and a couple more play together on another club

team.”

It was hard to distinguish which Lincoln teammates had club

connections and which did not Saturday, as the cohesive Leopards took

control early and dominated Rea No. 2.

Lincoln opened the scoring on a corner kick, as Kjell Wolker bent

a high liner across the net and Jedd Thayer jumped above a defender

to head it in in the 12th minute.

Just two minutes later, Thayer capitalized once again, converting

a Nick Gooding assist for the game’s final goal from about 10 yards

out.

After halftime, the Leopards continued to put pressure on, though

Rea goalkeeper Juan Marin was equal to the challenge.

Marin was a standout for the Sharks, as was Diego Lima and striker

Mario Gonzalez.

While Thayer cornered the scoring spotlight, Wolker, Gooding,

Matthew Francini, J.D. Dawn and Miguel Delgado also combined to

torment the Rea defense.

Nick Curci, anchoring the back line, also managed to contribute

heavily to the offensive thrust, which was also aided by Allen Brown.

Goalkeeper Andrew McCormack went the distance for Lincoln, which

recorded its third shutout in four tournament games.

Spencer Christoff, George Kennedy, Nick Rich, Joe Ctvrtlik and

Kevin Gordinier also contributed for the winners.

Rea 2, which went deeper in the tournament than any second entry

from the school ever has, also showed flashes of excellence and never

relented against the Leopards.

“Lincoln is a good team and they dominated the whole game,” said

Rea Coach Gannon Burks, who will also guide the Rea No. 1 team, the

four-time-defending division champion, into today’s other 9 a.m.

semifinal against Andersen.

“But I’m proud of my team. Our kids showed a lot of heart and

that’s really what this event is about.”

Rea No. 2 also received contributions from Ramiro Marquez, Jose

Valdez, Steven Jimenez, Jose Romo, Felix Villavicencio, Juan Davila,

Adam Garcia, Miguel Artiaga, Omar Gonzalez, Antonio Baltazar, Brandon

Salinas, Juan Mendez and Marcelo Martinez.