CdM, oh so close to perfect

COTO DE CAZA — The Corona del Mar High girls’ golf team already had an undefeated Pacific Coast League season.

Going for an unbeaten regular season proved a little more tricky proposition on Thursday at the Coto de Caza Golf and Racquet Club.

“I feel like I’m dreaming,” a frustrated Cierra Gaytan-Leach said to CdM teammate Jessica Milner as she finished up on hole No. 9. Her teammates could relate.

Playing at its home course, Santa Margarita upended the Sea Kings, 216-227, ending dreams of an unbeaten regular season for Corona del Mar.

The Sea Kings (12-1-1) had beaten the Eagles (9-7) by eight strokes at Newport Beach Country Club on Oct. 12. But Corona del Mar, used to having all five girls shoot in the low 40s, had only Milner (42), a senior, accomplish that feat in the rematch.

Also scoring for Corona del Mar were Jonna Kim and Kelly Moorhead with 45s, Courtney Wright (47) and Gaytan-Leach (48) on the par-36 course.

“I knew it’d be tough to beat them on their home course,” Sea Kings Coach Mike Starkweather said. “The greens are so fast. Every green we’ve been playing lately, they’ve plugged them and sanded them to slow them down. These greens are normal greens; we haven’t played normal greens in weeks.”

But he had to also give credit to Santa Margarita. Both teams played seven golfers, and the Eagles’ seventh golfer — sophomore Katherine Spiliotios — shot a 44, their fourth-best score.

Santa Margarita sophomore Alex Bush was medalist, firing a 41.

Milner calmed down as her round went along on the Coto de Caza south course. After bogeying her first five holes, she made par on three of the next four. Still, she was less than impressed.

“My putter hated me today,” she said.

It was a tough ending for the team’s senior trio of Milner, Kim and Wright, who played in their final high school dual-match. Kim is a four-year varsity player.

“It’s kind of bittersweet,” Milner said. “We thought we would finish the year undefeated, and we’re not. But I think that will really inspire us for the playoffs.”

Corona del Mar had been playing some of its best golf recently. The Sea Kings set an away-course school record of 203 against Irvine on Oct. 11.

“That’s really good,” Starkweather said. “There’s a lot of college teams that can’t shoot that.”

The Sea Kings then set their home-course record of 210 at Newport Beach Country Club on Wednesday.

But Starkweather said he knew coming in that it’d be tough to beat Santa Margarita twice in two weeks. Eagles Coach Amy Connelly said that despite her team’s record of 9-7, Santa Margarita has played the top teams in Orange County tough and also the top team in San Diego (Cathedral).

“Obviously, having home-course advantage is a benefit,” Connelly said. “We have a strong team. They took us at their home course, but we felt strong coming in today and knew it’d be a competitive match.”

Starkweather said he wasn’t upset at Corona del Mar’s team score of 227, with every individual player still in the 40s.

“This course is really user-friendly,” he said. “The more you play it, the more you know it. Honestly, 227 is not a bad score for this course.”

Starkweather said that the team remains strong and they look forward to the playoffs, starting with the Pacific Coast League finals, to be held Wednesday and Thursday at the El Prado Golf Course in Chino.

“Maybe it’s a little bit of a shock that they needed, a little bit of a wake-up call,” Starkweather concluded about the loss. “Now we have the postseason coming up, and that’s the most important.”