GIRLS SOCCER
CIF-SS PLAYOFFS
QUARTERFINALS
DIVISION 4
LA MIRADA 2, Santa Monica 1
LA MIRADA >> Defending CIF Southern Section Division 4 girls soccer champion La Mirada took one more big step toward repeating Thursday night with a 2-1 victory over visiting Santa Monica in the quarterfinals.The Matadores will be at Royal (Simi Valley) in the semifinals Tuesday.
Junior forward Vanessa Gonzalez got things rolling in the 16th minute with a straightaway goal deep in the penalty area off of a ricocheted attempt and senior Amanda Duran expanded the lead to 2-0 19 minutes later on a breakaway attempt that just squeaked into the net.
Viking captain Chloe Kleinman rounded out the scoring after the break with a penalty kick in the 52nd minute, which brought Santa Monica’s fans back into the equation for the rest of the contest.
Melissa Torres made sure the score would stay right there, however, notching three of her four saves in the second half. Shots were close in the end, with the Matadores finishing with a 7-6 edge, but La Mirada created the better looks overall.
La Mirada coach David Christensen: “Just like I told my team, heart of a champion. They (Santa Monica) are a great team. We were kind of getting pounded at the beginning of the game and to their credit we needed to make adjustments. My kids just fought, they’ve been here before last year and they want to do it again.”
La Mirada goalie Melissa Torres: “We just had to push through until the end. They came at us hard so we just had to keep working. We played really hard today.”
— Daniel Van Hoosier
DIVISION 5
ALTA LOMA 3, CAL 2
RANCHO CUCAMONGA >> Jessica Cota picked a good time to pick up her first goal of the season.In the 70th minute, the Alta Loma attacker outraced Whittier California High goalkeeper Rachyl Robles for a crossing pass from Diana Pineda and muscled the ball into the goal to give the host Braves a 3-1 lead as they held on over a frantic final 10 minutes for a 3-2 win in a CIF-Southern Section Division 5 quarterfinal game Thursday.Samantha Garcia and Viviana Ramirez scored goals for the Condors, who finished 20-6-1
Cal coach Brian Bordier: They’re a good squad. They kept fighting the entire time and they equalized. I thought we had a few more opportunities in the first half, and I think they had a few more in the second half then we did.”
— Bill Norris
THURSDAY’S SCORES
DIVISION 4
La Mirada 2, Santa Monica 1
DIVISION 5
La Quinta 1, La Serna 0
Alta Loma 3, Cal 2
DIVISION 6
Schurr 2, Temescal Canyon 1
TUESDAY’S SEMIFINALS
DIVISION 4
La Mirada at Royal
DIVISION 6
Schurr at Bloomington