Girls’ Soccer: Eagles battle back to beat Laguna Beach
Senior midfielder and co-captain Alba Barrios is always a fiery competitor for the Estancia High girls’ soccer team.
When Barrios went up to one of the referees following Estancia’s 2-1 Orange Coast League win over Laguna Beach on Tuesday night at Jim Scott Stadium, it wasn’t exactly to congratulate him on a job well done.
Barrios had words for the referee, who was the cause of displeasure among the Eagles and their fans throughout the extremely physical match. They talked briefly, before Estancia Coach Jessica Perry came out to escort her player off the field.
“I just said, ‘Ref, I respect your calls, but I have scratch marks on my arm,’” Barrios said. “I needed him to protect me as a player ... my hands were right on my side. And I still have the scratch marks, and they burn. He just told me as a captain I shouldn’t be saying anything to him, or not be rude to him. I just have a really bad temper. But wouldn’t I have the right to say something? I’m the captain.”
Barrios refused to let the Eagles get pushed around in the big league game. But despite the Eagles’ struggles to keep it together in the emotional match, two calls by the referee did in fact prove the difference.
Junior co-captain Samantha Falasco scored twice on second-half penalty kicks to help the Eagles (13-2-2, 2-0-1 in league) move ahead of the defending league champion Breakers (4-5-4, 2-1) in the standings. Estancia kept pace with Calvary Chapel, which beat Godinez, 2-0, in another league game Tuesday and is also 2-0-1 in league.
Expect the league to go down to the wire. Laguna Beach plays Calvary Chapel in a key game Thursday at Centennial Park in Santa Ana.
“They’re a good team, Estancia,” Laguna Coach Bill Rolfing said. “We always have these classic, close matches. We won [the league] three years ago, they won two years ago and we won last year. They look like they’re on a good path to compete for the top [spot], with us, hopefully. Anything can happen.”
Estancia was frustrated by the happenings in the first half. Senior co-captain Sarah Leahy had two of the best chances, each time on passes by Barrios. But a shot in the 13th minute went just wide of the goal. A minute later, Leahy was met by charging Laguna Beach goalie Kylie George (five saves) at the top of the box, and the slow-moving deflected shot was headed toward the goal. But Laguna defender Chiara Noppenberger came up with a big play, clearing it off the goal line.
The frustrating half ended with an Estancia corner kick. Leahy went to retrieve the ball, and put it down to prepare for the kick. But before she could kick it, the referee signaled the end of the half.
“I’ve never seen that,” Perry said. “If anything, he should have called it before she took off running. If he knew there wasn’t any time left, why make her go retrieve that ball and not give us the chance to take it?”
After Estancia sophomore defender Samantha Haynes (knee) was injured in the first half, Perry moved Leahy back to defense, where she was effective along with junior stopper Brandi White and her twin sister, goalie Caitlin Leahy (three saves). Estancia kept pressing on offense, too, and it paid off.
Senior forward Alondra Guzman popped the ball up in the box to Falasco, who received the pass before being fouled. Falasco put away the penalty kick in the 54th minute.
But Laguna answered just two minutes later, when senior Janie Crawford scored on a header off a corner kick from Alyssa Pellow.
The Eagles kept controlling the run of play, though. It paid off in the 74th minute, when Guzman executed a give-and-go with Falasco before being fouled hard in the box. Falasco put away the PK into the lower-right corner. Her ninth goal of the season gave the hosts a 2-1 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.
“They showed some serious heart,” Perry said. “They definitely pushed through and banded together. They were basically like, ‘We will not let this go.’ I appreciate and really enjoy that about this group of girls. They’re on a mission. They’re ready to do what it takes to get the ball in the back of the net, even if means taking a giant foul in the last five minutes.”
Estancia plays at Godinez on Thursday, a game that is usually played at Centennial Park but this year is at the grass fields of Godinez High. Perry said her team needed the three points it got from beating Laguna Beach, especially after playing Calvary Chapel to a scoreless tie on Jan. 13.
Estancia and Calvary Chapel are ranked Nos. 4 and 5, respectively, in the CIF Southern Section Division 5 poll.
“We’ve told them over and over again, ‘You’ve got to find a way to win,’” Perry said. “They did it tonight. I’m super-proud of the way they fought the entire game.”
Added Barrios: “It wasn’t pretty, but we found a way to win.”
She has the scratch marks to prove it.
