CIF Girls Soccer Playoffs: Alverno advances to semis; La Salle gives up 2-0 lead and loses in penalty kicks, 4-1; La Cañada and Maranatha shutout, 2-0
Above: Samantha Whitehead's tremendous speed was matched by Cathedral City's team speed. The Lancers lost in penalties, 4-1. (Photo courtesy of John Blackstock)
TODAY'S QUARTERFINALS RESULTS
DIVISION IV
Cathedral City 2, La Salle 2 (Cathedral City wins on PK's, 4-1): Seemingly, nothing could go wrong for the La Salle High School girls soccer team in the first half. But then came the second half. Playing a little too relaxed and underestimating Cathedral City's relentless effort proved to be costly for the Lancers. The Lions powered their way back from a two-goal deficit in the first half to tie the game in regulation and eventually winning, 4-1, on penalty kicks after a 2-2 tie Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the CIF-Southern Section Division IV playoffs. The tide had seemingly turned shortly after Cathedral City (16-5-5) got to within 2-1 in the 55th minute. It had been quite some time before the Lions were consistently adding pressure in the final third and it was only a matter of time until Emily Boffa scored on a left-foot volley off a Maria Grbavac corner kick. And after Boffa's goal there was a significant change in mood on the field. When the teams got back in formation to re-start play, the Lions looked much more loose and the Lancers (15-7-5) appeared tight. Cathedral City's overall team speed eventually wore down La Salle, and that couldn't have been more evident when Jessie LaFrance split two defenders and sent a shot past the keeper and into the far post to tie the game, 2-2, in the 71st minute.
DIVISION V
South Torrance 2, Maranatha 0: When the final whistle blew, the Maranatha High School girls soccer team slowly limped off the field. For 80 minutes, the Minutemen sacrificed their bodies. Kimmie Sommers' tears from immense lower back pain -- and an even tougher loss to swallow -- was proof of that. For 80 minutes, Maranatha ran in long stretches and showed glimpses of its ability to at times keep up with the much faster South Torrance team. Jessica Austin did her best to keep the large crowd in the game. They battled to the bitter end and when it was all over, the Minutemen were spent after leaving every ounce of energy on the field. Maranatha's 2-0 loss in the quarterfinals of the CIF-Southern Section Division V playoffs Thursday night was not indicative of how close the Minutemen came from limping away with smiles on their faces instead of tears. But the harsh reality was that the Aztecs (21-3-5) countered well and their team speed trumped that of Maranatha's (16-7-5). There was little South Torrance couldn't do. They not only ran past defenders but also matched every bit of intensity and physicalness Maranatha exhibited.
El Segundo 2, La Cañada 0: The visiting Eagles (19-4-1) proved to be too athletic, scoring a goal in each half to beat the Spartans (16-5-2) in the Division V playoffs. La Cañada played exceptional the first 15 minutes but it all ended when senior forward Caroline Na suffered a knee injury and had to be carted off the field. And with the Spartans' catalyst no longer in the game, El Segundo gained momentum and limited La Cañada's scoring opportunities. "We were the best team for the first 15 minutes," Spartans coach Louie Bilowitz said. "We played great soccer and had four great shots, two of which hit the cross bar. We lost control of the game with (Na's) injury."
Bilowitz, who has coached soccer for 25 years including the last six as the Spartans coach, said he was extremely proud of his girls since La Cañada last season was ousted in the first round. "Nobody expected this team to get as far as they did," he said. "This is the first team that doesn't have two or three dominant players. With this team, the reason I love it so much, is because they share the ball. "They're not looking for the star player. Everybody's participating and there were no egos involved. It's just been a wonderuful team to coach and I was very honored to have coached this team."
DIVISION VII
Alverno 6, Saddleback Valley Christian 1: Senior Jessica Capra scored two second-half goals to lead the Alverno High School girls soccer team to a 6-1 win over Saddleback Valley Christian on Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the CIF-Southern Section Division VII playoffs. The second-seeded Jaguars (17-1-2) will play the CAMS-St. Paul winner in Tuesday's semifinals, at a site to be determined. Capra scored in the 76th and 77th minute to give Alverno 4-1 and 5-1 leads.
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About this blog
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Melendez worked as a correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for three years and later landed a job as a freelance writer at the Los Angeles Times before accepting an offer at The Orange County Register covering high schools. Melendez covered Major League Soccer at The Register for three years before being promoted to report on the Lakers, Angels and Dodgers for the Web. Melendez also worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe. E-mail opinions, suggestions and tips to miguel.melendez@sgvn.com. |
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Condense! I believe it will be a lot more effective if presented better.
You are right. It looks like Alverno has already penciled themselves in to the championship game.
CAMS Coach: You must be new to blogging if you are looking for encouragement from a bunch of Pasadena folks.
My point is that recruiting is everything in this division. With only 4 CSL club players on your roster, you don't have the personnel to beat Alverno because they probably have as many or even more club players than a typical Division IV or V school. I am looking forward to having you prove me wrong.
It doesn't look like Alverno is afraid of you though. If you look on MaxPreps you will see that they have scheduled themselves for the Championship Game already!
Thanks for the warm words of encouragement that we will be "Slaughtered 8-0." Well see everyone Tuesday.
Yes, I did borrow a few of the sentiments..but thought them to be relevant in this case. The OP is a referee with a wicked sense of humor
This post is the funniest ever. The Real Truth speaks the real truth.
Read it for yourself and laugh. It was posted in a different Girls Soccer Blog:
The Truth said:
Alverno "real truth" Good luck against the Royal Blue Princesses or the Prancing Purple Ponies....don't forget those Orange Slices and Juice Boxes
Classic Stuff
Look for Alverno to slaughter CAMS...8-0
12 of Alverno's 15 players are Coast Soccer League players including 1 Premier, 4 Gold, 2 Silver Elite, 1 Silver and 4 Bronze players.
CAMS roster of 12 has 4 Coast Soccer Player including 1 Gold, 2 Silver Elite and 1 Bronze.
Alverno's (#2 seed) Semi Final match will be vs. Carson-based California Academy of Math and Science (#3 seed). The 3:00 PM match will be held at The Home Depot Center Field #7.
Congratulations to all the girls, your hard work has paid off! Alverno Soccer has never gone beyond the 1/4 finals before this year.
Steve Lesse
Ast. Coach
Alverno Soccer
Maranatha has the capability to be very good, but needs to actually try to win balls and not play constantly on their heels. It seemed as if they were afraid of South Torrance. (Just an opinion).
Miguel
Maria Grbavac plays for La Salle. Just an FYI.
Also, La Salle will be tough to beat next year. They lose two players from this years squad.
The Final Five Year End
1 Flintridge Sacred Heart
2 Arcadia
3 La Salle
4 Maranatha
5 La Canada (based on League over Monrovia)
I would throw Maranatha in the mix. I came away impressed after watching them earlier today.
La Salle game was great game to watch. La Salle came out hard first half and scored two great goals of set pieces. they where all over Cathedral City first half should of scored more. second half Cathedral City scored of a corner kick the game changed. second goal was mis-communication by La Salle game was tied 2-2 10min left. OT was back and forth. questionable pk that La Salle should of had but ref let it go. went to pk's La Salle missed first 2 and Cathedral City made them all. Congrats to La Salle great year with young team. only lose 2 seniors. i pick next year La Salle to go finals. next year top contenders to go far in playoffs La Salle, Flintridge Sacred Heart, La Canada, Arcadia. anybody else?
La Canada was defeated by El Segundo 2-0 in another hard fought CIF quarter final game. Great run for the La Canada girls, who exceeded expectations. Congratulations on a great season and to all the seniors on the team: Amanda Teng, Catherine Chew, Millie Beebe, Megan Edwards and Caroline Na.
Alverno wins, 6-1.
La Canada loses, 2-0
La Salle loses, 4-1 PKs after 2-2 tie. La Salle was up 2-0 at the half.
Maranatha trailing 1-0 in the first half.....yes, its been a long day!
Miguel,
Did not mean to cause any problems, just looking for pub for my favorite team who has had a remarkable run to date. I know you are probably spread thin.....
highschoolsoccerfan
Miguel Malendez,
Thank you! :) Offer is (just about) always open, seats are great, particularly if it is an ESPN game as I have the camera control booth right below my seats on the field with 4 screens, can watch all the replays...the best ones are the ones that don't get broadcast.
I had plenty of time to remove the lint from my suit at the game...
Steve L.
Good...it was meant as "tongue in cheek."
Steve Lasse,
You forgot to thank me. I kid I kid. BTW, I got your voicemail the other day. Thanks for the offer but my boy is a PR coordinator for the Galaxy. He offered me tix but I had better things to do like taking the lint off my suits. Again, I kid I kid.
This is Sparta,
No offense taken. I actually thought what you wrote was pretty funny. But trust me, I have more of those heart-warming, tear-jerking stories in my reserves.
Here's what I do want to say: Provided each girls soccer coach answers their phone today, we will have recaps of each game being played today, hence the title of this thread. Good luck to all, and to all a good night.
For the recored this is what I wrote:
(La Canada Wins Duarte Tournament in K.F.T.M.)
Championship game of the 5th annual Duarte HS Tournament.
Fantastic game between two well matched teams. La Canada had to get by Duarte, Fontana, and Marshal to get to the finals; tiny Alverno defeated Gabrielino (9-1), Temple City (3-1), and Flintridge Prep.(3-0) to advance.
La Canada was led by strong field play from Rachel Ragusa and Kat Chew and some great saves by Fosh goal keeper Haley Austin. Tiny and Young (7-frosh/so players in the final!) Division Seven side Alverno played a great game led by Sr. Co-Captains Ameenah Issa and Marina Lesse, and some great saves by Frosh. Keeper Chellee Parker.
Overtime Summary:
The final nod and Tournament Championship after 0-0 regulation and 0-0 in two overtimes went to La Canada 3-2 in kicks-from-the-penalty-mark (KFTPM).
Thank you to all the La Canada players and coaches for a great game and good luck during your season!
Thank you to the officials for their hard work.
Thank you to Chris and Duarte HS for putting on a great tournament.
Steve...I saw what you wrote and we are going to have to agree to disagree on this.
The governing authority for these decisions is CIF. After another poster claims that he made a call to Christine Palle in the CIF offices and cited the NFHS rule, I also made a call to Christine and she confirmed that under CIF rules (NFHS Blue book, page 83, Letter G.) one point should have been awarded for the win regardless of how many kicks were scored as goals. This is the playoff scoring procedure used by CIF and in the absence of specific instructions to the contrary by the tournament authority because CIF referees were on the field (another reason why CIF referees are not allowed to have USSF logos on their sleeves).
Her ruling is consistent with scoring under FIFA's rules as well as the USSF and all of the governing bodies for U-19 affiliated leagues (USYS and USClub)
OK, so the link pasting thing does not work... Just go to La Canada or Alverno's Max Prep sports page, see what it says for the team... then click on the part where it says 0-0 and see what I wrote about the game.
Again, as I said in my first post today:
Good luck to the Girls Soccer teams from La Salle, La Canada, and Maranatha today!
Steve L.
Miguel...I was unfair....sorry. Have fun at whatever game you are reporting on and may all the area teams win
Arroyo,
Please go to this link to see how I recorded the Alverno vs. La Canada and what I had to say about your team:
http://www.maxpreps.com/california/soccer/alverno-(sierra-madre)/la-canada-(ca)/boxscore.aspx?contestid=33bb2b92-14d0-43b0-9f4c-14197c057942&schoolid=0e9f56dc-2cc1-44ae-a719-9b49eac32de9&ssid=626bb467-72c6-4589-8c55-34cf8b16ab52&urpath=,local,stats
Thank you,
Steve Lesse
Ast. Coach
Alverno Soccer
"So we already know the story line: La Canada will lose to whomever they play from this point on. All of the overachiever/underdog/play with heart stories were used up on FSHA." ... Classic.
Actually, La Canada defeated Alverno in PKs and won the Duarte Tournament. Lesse recorded this as a tie, despite Christine Palle from CIF's ruling that 1 point should be added to the score to indicate the win.
Alverno's coach can call it anything he wants.
"Shoeless" Morgan...that was funny. Knowing Louie, he probably still had her carry the balls out to the bus because she is a freshman.
But lets not get on Miguel's case because he has got to call them like he sees them. Yesterday, he predicted that LC was going to lose to El Segundo. Who knows? He may be right. Consequently, If they win, he (and probably most of the pundits) will predict a loss to Notre Dame (probably will be ND...but just ask Oak Park about playoff surprises), and if they manage to somehow make it into the finals, they would of course have to lose to Oaks Christian. So we already know the story line: La Canada will lose to whomever they play from this point on. All of the overachiever/underdog/play with heart stories were used up on FSHA.
My friends from the beach say that El Segundo's game is long ball to their All CIF Track Star/Bronze Soccer Forward who crosses the ball to the forwards that are crashing the goal.
Minor point: LC actually tied Alverno 0-0 on 12/13. They did beat Maranantha 1-0.
Everyone just chill and root for all the WSG Valley teams....
highschoolsoccerfan,
We had a reporter at the La Canada game Tuesday and we did not have one for the La Salle game. Nobody from La Canada asked why we also didn't send a reporter to their game, and nobody from La Salle wondered why La Canada got a game and La Salle didn't. Sometimes we just have to spread the love and that's what we're doing in this case.
MM - This is Sparta is right..are you picking the right game to attend? Who are your subscribers the LaSalle, Maranatha folks versus La Canada? Who gives you the better story "shoeless" Morgan (Pasadena Star story on Oak Park game) and a team that appears to be "overachievers" and with heart to compete?
Maybe I should think about renewing my subscription.
My friends near the beach say that South Torrance and El Segundo play at the same level even though they are very different teams.
It is interesting that of the 4 area teams left in the playoffs, LC tied La Salle and defeated both Maranatha and Alverno. Those results may not mean much at this point, but you never know.
Miguel says:
"There are technically four home games today, though I'm not sure what to make of Alverno which "hosts" Saddleback Valley Christian at Rio De Los Angeles State Park. I guess it beats traveling way the heck down to San Juan Capistrano in deep Orange County. Trust me, I used to hate those trips when I covered preps at The Register"
Alverno does not yet have a soccer field, (kind of like we don't yet have a page on YOUR prep sports page) neither do several of the other teams in our league and Rio de Los Angeles is central to the other schools so to make life easier for them we all use Rio as our home field...As far as the Star News is concerned Rio de Los Angeles is 13 min from your office on Colorado Blvd. Alverno is 11 min; with afternoon traffic the drive to Alverno from your office can be closer to 15-25 min...While you are at La Salle, take a stroll up the street to Alverno and take a look, hey it's only two blocks away from La Salle!
Good luck to the Girls Soccer teams from La Salle, La Canada, and Maranatha today!
Steve L.