El Modena Advances in Overtime

ORANGE —  Eight minutes into overtime, Monica Chavez perfectly placed a corner kick in front of the goal and Kim Needham headed it into the net to give El Modena a 2-1 victory over top-seeded North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake in a Division III girls’ soccer semifinal.

The victory advanced fourth-seeded El Modena (19-7-2) to the championship game, where they will face West Hills Chaminade, a team Harvard-Westlake defeated twice this season. The final will be at Cerritos Gahr, with the day and time to be decided.

Although El Modena, which moved to Division III this season along with Harvard-Westlake, is the defending Division II champion, Vanguard Coach Jeff Pearson is still astounded by his team’s play this season.

“I’m overwhelmed,” Pearson said. “I think we are kind of the Cinderella team. Even though we were the Division II champions last year, we lost everyone this year. I didn’t expect to win league and I didn’t expect to be in the finals.”

But the Vanguards look as if the finals are where they belong. Outscoring their opponents, 22-3, in four rounds of the playoffs, Harvard-Westlake Coach Ned Smith believes El Modena will win it all again.

“They took advantage of their opportunities. We had a lot more, but couldn’t do it,” said Smith. “I think they will win back to back.”

El Modena took advantage of its first opportunity 15 minutes into the game. Chavez drilled a penalty kick from the corner that Kerry Anderson headed out in front of the goal and Ashley Clift stuck it in the net past goalkeeper Sarah Deckers, giving the Vanguards a 1-0 lead.

Harvard-Westlake (17-5-1) came back midway through the second half with a little help from the Vanguard defense. El Modena’s Robin Schmidt took the ball back toward her own goal to try and set up a play, but was chased down by a Wolverine forward and the two lost the ball over the endline, resulting in a Harvard-Westlake corner kick.