By Fred J. Robledo
Walnut girls soccer coach Lorraine Hansen had a few choice words about the officiating and Bishop Amat attacking midfielder April Juarez had a few words about the chippiness following the Lancers’ 3-1 victory over the Mustangs in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 3 girls soccer playoffs.
It was the second straight year the defending champion Lancers ended the Mustangs’ season in the first round. It got physical and there were even a pair of players yellow carded after getting tangled and throwing punches.
Juarez, who had a pair of goals and was part of creating the game-clinching goal late, laughed it off.
“They’re fun to play against because they get mad at us because we’re winning and they want to hit us and stuff,” Juarez said of facing Walnut. “It just cracks me up.” (To continue click thread)
Amat–Walnut girls soccer photo gallery
Friday’s First Round Girls Soccer Playoff Results
Division 3
Bonita 4, Oak Hills 1
Chino Hills 1, Flintridge Prep1, Chino Hills advances on PKs
Ayala 3, Sultana 0
Bishop Amat 3, Walnlut 1
Claremont 3, Bishop Montgomery 0
Diamond Bar 2, Arroyo Grande 1
St. Lucy’s 2, St. Joseph 1, OT
Division 6
Garden Grove 5, Duarte 0
Ocean View 7, Nogales 2
Sierra Vista 1, Beaumont 0
Wilson 1, Cate 0
Segerstrom 6, Baldwin Park 0
Loara 1,La Puente 0
Division 7
Rosemead 1, Montebello 1, Rosemead advances on PKs
Arroyo 3, Animo Leadership 0
Viewpoint 5, South El Monte 0
Wednesday’s second round games
Division 3
Bonita at Granite Hills, 3 p.m.
La Mirada at Chino Hills, 3 p.m.
Ayala at Quartz Hill, 3 p.m.
Bishop Amat at Yorba Linda, 3 p.m.
Claremont at Pasadena Poly, 3 p.m.
Serrano at Diamond Bar, 3 p.m.
Mayfair at St. Lucy’s, 3 p.m.
Division 6
Sierra Vista at Wilson, 3 p.m.
Segrestrom at Ganehsa, 3 p.m.
Oxford Academy at San Dimas, 3 p.m.
Division 7
Arroyo at Citrus Valley, 3 p.m.
Firebaugh at Rosemead, 3 p.m.
The Inland Insider was at Ayala’s 3-0 win over Sultana, check it out
The fourth-seed Lancers (17-3-4) advance to Wednesday’s second round on the road at Yorba Linda, the second-place team from the Empire League.
Walnut (8-10-6) got off to a dream start, taking a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute.
The Mustangs’ Amber Marani poked a beautiful pass in front for Cassie Duran, who carved it in the left corner.
Amat came right back with Nayely Requejo doing most of the work. Driving down the right side, Requejo cut toward the endline and slid a picture-perfect pass in front for Juarez, who buried it to tie the score, 1-1, in the 11th minute.
After Juarez was fouled minutes later driving toward the penalty area, she finished it herself with a free kick just outside the left-corner of the penalty area.
It was as good as it gets. Juarez curled her free kick over the wall inside the near post.
All Mustangs goalkeeper Katelyn Oshima could do was admire it as the Lancers surged ahead 2-1 in the 15th minute.
“We had to win, I didn’t care if it was me who scored or not, we had to take back the lead,” Juarez said. “We didn’t want to go out (in the playoffs) this early.”
Juarez, who scored her 19th and 20th goals of the season, had a good feeling about the free kick.
“I trusted in myself,” Juarez said of the shot. “For whatever reason, I knew I was going to score. In my head I just felt it.”
Bishop Amat coach Ruben Gonzalez said Walnut scoring first got the Lancers going.
“In the first few minutes we didn’t match their intensity,” Gonzalez said. “We kind of came out flat. I don’t know if it was nerves because it was the first playoff game, but after they scored we picked it up and had a lot of opportunities to put them away.
“I would have liked to put it away earlier in the second half so we could let some other players play, but that’s the playoffs. You can never put your guard down.”
Walnut appeared to tie the score in the 61st minute.
Ari Anaya’s shot was darting straight for the left corner and probably would have rolled in, but Ashley Stanford was at the back post and poked it home from a yard away.
Stanford was whistled offside, negating the game-tying goal.
“I thought that was the case too,” Amat coach Ruben Gonzalez said of the call. “It should have been a tie score (if Stanford doesn’t touch it).”
Walnut didn’t get another clean look the rest of the match.
After Juarez missed a penalty kick in the 64th minute, she broke loose on a breakaway and was turned away by a diving poke save from Oshima, but speedy Yazmin Slim kept running hard and finished in front of an empty net in the 73rd minute to ice the game.
Afterward, Hansen wasn’t thrilled with the offside call or the officiating in general.
“It’s the way the cookie crumbles for us this year,” Hansen said. “We had multiple calls against us, I don’t know what else to say.
“I think the whole game the refs didn’t have control at all. I’m not unhappy with the way my girls played, it’s unfortunate that the referring the whole season has changed the game of soccer. I don’t think there is enough quality referring to have great games played. Either let them play and let the fouls go or call them both ways. That’s all we ask is for a fair game both ways.”
