By Fred J. Robledo, Staff Writer
The rain and poor field conditions didn’t do St. Lucy’s or host Los Altos any favors during Wednesday’s CIF-Southern Section Division 3 girls soccer wild-card game.
Neither team could muster much through the run of play, both struggling to push through puddles of water to earn clean shots on goal.
St. Lucy’s senior Shannon Kent, known more for her speedy runs and finishes around the goal, took advantage of one of the Regents’ few opportunities in the dying seconds of the first half.
With a loose ball rolling in front of her 20 yards away, Kent drove a right-footed shot that dipped under the crossbar in the 40th minute for the lone goal, giving St. Lucy’s a 1-0 victory. (To continue click thread).
Game Story: Rosemead makes a splash with 2-0 win over Kern Valley.
TODAY’S GIRLS SOCCER RESULTS
Division 3
St. Lucy 1, Los Altos 0
Walnut 4, Cerritos 0
Division 7
South El Monte 4, Cantwell Sacred Heart 0
Rosemead 2, Kern Valley 0
Rolling Hills Prep 1, Gabrielino 0
WE NEED RESULTS: We will post results immediately on the new Prep Scores Results Blog as soon as coaches or representatives from teams call them in. If you look at the Tribune prep sports webpage, you’ll see the blog in the top right corner which will be updated throughout the evening as soon as results are called in or emailed to us. You can call in results to 626-962-8811, ext. 2233, 2242 or email results to scores@sgvn.com. I will also post the final scores and update as much as I can throughout the entire playoffs.
FRIDAY’S GIRLS SOCCER FIRST ROUND SCHEDULE
Division 3
Oak Hills at Bonita, 3 p.m.
Chino Hills at Flintridge Prep, 3 p.m.
Sultana at Ayala, 3 p.m.
Walnlut at Bishop Amat, 3 p.m.
Bishop Montgomery at Claremont, 3 p.m.
Arroyo Grande at Diamond Bar, 3 p.m.
St. Lucy’s at St. Joseph, 3 p.m.
Division 6
Duarte at Garden Grove, 3 p.m.
Nogales at Ocean View, 3 p.m.
Beaumont at Sierra Vista, 3 p.m.
Cate at Wilson, 3 p.m.
Baldwin Park at Segerstrom, 3 p.m.
Loara at La Puente, 3 p.m.
Division 7
Rosemead at Montebello, 7 p.m.
Animo Leadership at Arroyo, 3 p.m.
South El Monte at Viewpoint, 3 p.m.
“Our midfielders didn’t hold the middle and the ball dropped and the girl (Kent) put as good a shot as you can put right over our goalkeepers head,” Los Altos coach Chris Reeder said. “It was a beautiful shot. Our keeper didn’t do anything wrong and our defense didn’t do anything wrong, it was a great shot.”
St. Lucy’s and Los Altos each had shots ricochet off the crossbar midway through the first half, which were the teams’ only scoring opportunities before Kent put the Regents in front.
“Anything can happen on a field like this,” Kent said. “We all worked hard and I was lucky to get that shot off.”
With Los Altos up a goal, the Regents sat back and countered most of the second half.
The Conquerors had their opportunities to tie the match.
Melissa Gonzalez nearly tied it with a shot that skidded wide in the 48th minute and Samantha Verduzco fought off a defender dribbling toward the right endline in the 52nd minute, then dropped a pass in front for Tatiana Carillo, who lost her footing trying to get a clean shot off.
“You can’t practice this,” Reeder said of the sloppy conditions. “We’ve practiced in rain but there is no drill you can do. How do you take a shot out of a puddle? My girls had opportunities where they created space to turn and shoot and the ball just didn’t come off their foot.
“St. Lucy’s had opportunities also to turn and shoot and the ball just doesn’t go anywhere. I know it’s cliche, but the ball literally didn’t bounce our way today.”
Reeder said there was nothing they could do about Kent’s goal, either.
“We had a game plan to keep seven behind the ball and force them to move the ball around the midfield and not give them shots,” Reeder said. “I thought for 39 minutes my girls did a great job frustrating them. They wanted to play a pretty game and we wanted to make them play an ugly game. We did a good job for 39 minutes then made one mistake not clearing a ball out.”
St. Lucy’s advanced (15-8-2) advances to Friday’s first-round where it will face second-seed St. Joseph, who defeated the Regents 3-0 in a non-league game in December.
“Honestly, people have been talking about that game but I don’t remember it at all,” Kent said of the Regents’ meeting with St. Joe’s. “Obviously we weren’t on our best game so we’re going to play a more competitive game against them on Friday.”
Los Altos finished the season 11-6-4
