Marina girls’ soccer advances to CIF Division 3 final
LA PUENTE — A CIF Southern Section title was among the aims Marina High’s girls’ soccer team carried into its campaign three months ago, but it was more of a wish than something truly plausible.
Not anymore.
The Vikings’ improbable run through the Division 3 playoffs, built on aggressive midfield play, sterling defense and just enough offense to get by, has reached the pinnacle: They’ll play in next weekend’s championship game after fending off top-ranked La Puente Bishop Amat in an often chaotic semifinal showdown Friday afternoon, tallying on set pieces late in each half for a 2-0 road victory that confirmed their growing belief that, yes, they really are capable of big things.
Kendall Crosby volleyed home sister Riley Crosby’s free kick in the 36th minute, Bella Moawad quieted the Lancers’ second-half surge with a 68th-minute strike, and a spirited effort at the back — led by Kiera Miskelly’s expert work in shutting down Bishop Amat’s quick, masterfully skilled forward, Mimi Dominguez, and right back Giana Ortenzo’s excellent flank defending — ensured Marina’s fourth successive postseason shutout (and eighth in its past 10 games) to reach its first title game in the sport since winning three straight Division I championships from 1993 to 1995.
Fifth-ranked Marina (10-5-8) will be home against No. 3 Moorpark (15-4-1), which topped No. 2 Portola on penalty kicks following a 1-1 draw.
“It’s so awesome. It’s all we wanted ...,” said Kendall Crosby, a senior midfielder. “We always, in the back of our mind, wanted to win CIF, but this is reality now. We could actually win it.”
Marina head coach Heath Oberle realized it might be possible during Sunset Conference play, especially after drawing with Surf League champion Los Alamitos — which will play for the Division 1 title — and playing well in a tight loss to Huntington Beach.
“I would say [I knew] way before [the players] believed it and realized it,” he said. “I think there’s still a little bit of ‘impostor syndrome’ for them, where they’re like, ‘I can’t believe that we’re here. ... To be honest, it was a team that wasn’t super-cohesive [early in the season], and there was some stuff we’ve gone through and just built together, and I think over time they’re starting to believe more and more that they’re capable. And now it’s all to play for in one game.”
The Wave League champions, making just their fourth playoff appearance in the past decade-plus, got there with a gritty showing on a thin, bumpy, grass field that played into their hosts’ tough, direct style, limited Marina’s precise passing game, and created an endless series of duels and battles for first and especially second balls that favored the Vikings in the first half and Bishop Amat (24-4-2), massively, in the first 20 minutes or so after the break.
Marina, tidier with the ball, might have with better fortune built a substantial edge in the first half-hour, repeatedly penetrating into the attacking third and narrowly missing three times. Bishop Amat goalkeeper Leilani Sanchez denied Samantha Esparza, from Sarah Sumrall after Moawad picked up a loose ball, with a sprawling stop at the left post in the 20th minute, and then two minutes later pushed a 35-yard Riley Crosby free kick off the crossbar. Kendall Crosby, from an Aspen Castillo feed, fired just wide from the edge of the 6-yard box five minutes after that.
The Vikings finally broke through as the Crosby sisters — triplets with reserve midfielder Madi — hooked up on an arching, 45-yard free kick from the left flank into open space in the goalmouth. Kendall Crosby raced in from the right to get the outside of her right foot on the ball, redirecting it past Sanchez.
“They’ve been together since, well, conception,” Oberle said, “so they know what to do, where to go. They know where each other is without having to look.”
Kendall Crosby called it “sort of like a twins’ telepathy sort of thing.”
The Lancers had their chances, nearly all of them involving Dominguez, who set a school record with 44 goals this season. Miskelly, a nuanced center back with a precise touch in the tackle, caused her problems for the duration, winning at least a half-dozen vital duels. Dominguez still conjured five excellent opportunities and — with support from sister Arianna, whose long throw-ins caused repeated havoc, and fellow midfielder Lenea Guerrero — keyed Bishop Amat’s dominance at the start of the second half when it penned the Vikings in their defensive third and created seven good scoring opportunities.
It took Marina half of the second half to find its footing again, and then another Riley Crosby free kick, from 35 yards, provided a safety net. Izzie Krysinski found space on the left side of the Lancers’ box, beat a defender, then sent a deflected pass toward the middle for Moawad, who used her lesser left foot.
“It was bouncing in front of me with no one in front of me,” Moawad said. “I don’t have very good aim with that foot. I just popped it to the [upper] left corner.”
That was it, for all intents. Oberle added another defender to his formation, and Bishop Amat didn’t seriously challenge again. Marina was in the final, which Oberle called “surreal.”
“I’ll probably wake up tomorrow and be like, ‘Holy crap, we’re playing in a final,’ ” he said. “For me, it’s really enjoying the journey. At the end of the day, it’s about them, and I just get to be in charge a little bit.”
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