Girls’ Soccer Preview: Sage defense strong

You can’t lose a soccer match if you don’t allow any goals.

This simple axiom helped the Sage Hill School girls’ soccer team accomplish a remarkable feat last year. The Lightning never allowed a goal in 10 Academy League matches, or 800 minutes of action.

That the whole defense returns, minus the goalie, is a cause for optimism for this season’s Lightning.

The goalie, graduate Kekai Whitford, was undoubtedly a big piece as a three-time Newport-Mesa Dream Team selection who is now playing volleyball at Loyola Marymount. But Sage Hill has four returning seniors at the core of the defense, with center backs Rachael Jaffe and Tiffany Taylor as well as defensive center midfielders Lauren Thunen and Janis Jin.

Add in senior defender Jaclyn Gerschultz and juniors Julia Lowe and Maddy D’Amico, and the Lightning have reason to believe that the defense will again be stingy following a season where Sage Hill went 15-5-2, won its first league title since 2008 with a perfect 10-0 record and advanced to the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs.

Sage Hill lost just two seniors from that team, co-captains Whitford and forward Paige Burke.

“We’ve been working really hard and playing really well together,” Thunen said. “We have a good chemistry on the field.”

Taylor and Thunen have additional familiarity as they both play defender for the same club team, Strikers U18 ECNL. Their communication is important, with both in the center of the defense.

“I think it’s for sure made us both a lot better,” said Taylor, a returning first-team All-Academy League and Newport-Mesa Dream Team selection. “We just kind of have competed since freshman year. We’re not enemies, but as friends, we competed to make each other better. Being on the same club team, we’re always trying to beat each other. [It’s a] healthy competition.”

Both Gerschultz (tennis) and Jaffe (water polo) have had to transition from fall sports. Jaffe used to play club soccer too but stopped so she could focus on water polo, the sport that she now wants to play in college. As a goalie on the boys’ water polo team this fall, she made 163 saves and was a first-team all-league selection in that sport as well.

“I needed to get my land legs back,” Jaffe said. “I mean, in water polo I’m a goalie so I have to lead the defense. It’s not that much different from being a center defensive player [in soccer].

“I’m not bad at telling people what to do,” she added with a laugh.

Sage Hill Coach Mike Hammond said that Taylor and Jaffe are both definitely leaders on the pitch.

“Jaffe played water polo, and she came back like she’s been playing [soccer] the whole time,” Hammond said. “I think [Taylor] is even better this year. She’s more physical and maybe a little bit quicker.”

The experienced defense will help Sage Hill’s goalies, sophomore Kayla Gratzer-Von Lintel and junior Sarah Lowey. It was Gratzer-Von Lintel who played goalie for the Lightning early last season, before Whitford came out for her senior year.

“Technically they’re very good, they just need more confidence,” Taylor said. “Since the defensive line is mostly seniors, I think they feel like they’re less of a presence. But we try to put more emphasis on them. They can yell at us; it’s OK.”

With this kind of defensive presence, Sage Hill certainly also is not lacking in offensive firepower. Senior forwards Lexi Magliarditi and Claire Novotny are committed to Duke and Grand Canyon University, respectfully. Magliarditi set a single-season program record with 32 goals last year after moving from Las Vegas, while Novotny had 15 goals and 13 assists and was the Academy League MVP.

The Lightning also are excited that Magliarditi’s sophomore sister, Taylor, has moved into a starting right forward spot. And freshman Sydney Schell is starting at attacking midfielder, since standout junior Maya Roston is out for the season following ACL surgery.

“With every year you never know what to expect at the very beginning of season, but we have a lot of confidence in our returning players and in our newer faces,” Jin said.

What the Lightning want in league play is another title. Hammond said he used to face off with St. Margaret’s Coach Johnny Marmelstein in boys’ soccer in the 1990s, with Hammond at Claremont Webb and Marmelstein at Chadwick. Hammond coached Webb to the CIF Southern Section small schools title in 1992.

In their current positions, Hammond’s Lightning have been on top, going 3-0-1 against the rival Tartans in two seasons. Last year, Sage Hill beat St. Margaret’s twice in the same season for the first time since that 2008 season.

With eight returning starters and seven seniors, hopes are again high. And again, it starts with defense.

This is the area where the seniors — Jaffe, Taylor, Thunen, Jin and Gerschultz — hope to again make their mark.

“Since all of us are seniors, this year is the culmination of our time playing soccer at Sage,” Jin said. “We definitely think it can be the best team that we’ve ever had, and we are working hard to make sure that it is.”

Here’s a look at the five Newport-Mesa girls’ soccer programs for 2015-16:

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Corona del Mar

Coach: Bryan Middleton (14th year)

2014-15 season: 10-8-3, 4-3-3 in the Pacific Coast League (second place); lost to M.L. King in first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs

Players to watch: Kat Hess (Sr.); Hailey Neumann (Jr.); Christina Venturini (Jr.); Leah Givant (Jr.); Ally Doherty (Sr.); Maddie Binder (Sr.)

You should know: The addition of Hess in goal will surely help CdM’s defense. Hess, who split time in goal for CdM as a freshman, was ineligible to play last year after transferring back to CdM from JSerra. She has played on the U.S. under-18 national team in the past and should help CdM remain strong in the back. So will Neumann, Venturini and Doherty, all effective defenders. Neumann was a first-team all-league and third-team All-CIF player last season, while she and Venturini were both Newport-Mesa Dream Team selections.

The Sea Kings finished tied for second in league last year, ending a four-year league title run. Middleton picked Northwood to again win league this season, but expects his team to stay competitive. Scoring goals in the run of play may prove challenging, but Middleton likes his team’s size for set pieces. He hopes to have talented sophomore forward Liz Lamie, who is recovering from ACL surgery, back for the start of league play.

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Costa Mesa

Coach: Jon Crowley (first year)

2014-15 season: 6-14-2, 1-8-1 in the Orange Coast League (tied for fifth place); failed to qualify for the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs

Players to watch: Veronica Zambrano (Soph.); Rayleen Chavez (Fr.); Yaritza Garcia (Jr.); Emma Warner (Fr.)

You should know: Crowley got a late start as he was hired in mid-November to replace Tamiko Davila. This is the first high school head coaching position for Crowley, 47, who was previously an assistant boys’ soccer coach at Westminster. But he is an experienced girls’ club soccer coach for CDA Slammers FC, as is Estancia’s new coach, Josh Juarez.

Crowley said that Costa Mesa will be young this season and he is not promising miracles, but he does see potential. He said its hard to say where the Mustangs will finish in league, because he hasn’t seen the other teams in the league. He does like the young nucleus that the Mustangs possess with players like freshmen Chavez, an attacking midfielder, and the goalie Warner. He said he wants to increase the amount of participation in organized soccer in the community.

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Estancia

Coach: Josh Juarez (first year)

2014-15 season: 19-4-3, 7-1-2 in the Orange Coast League (co-champion); lost to Ontario Colony in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs

Players to watch: Emily Rodriguez (Sr.); Brandi White (Sr.); Katarina Freiberger (Jr.); Delani Guyot (Jr.); Elizabeth Esquivel (Jr.)

You should know: It was an offseason of change for the Eagles, who lost Coach Jessica Perry in July. Perry, who coached the team for seven years and also was girls’ athletic director, resigned after she was not offered a teaching position at the school. In stepped Juarez, an experienced club coach who also is the men’s soccer assistant coach at Hope International University.

Last year’s Estancia team was arguably Perry’s best, sharing the league title with Calvary Chapel behind a very talented senior class of Caitlin and Sarah Leahy, Alondra Guzman, Alba Barrios and Gianna Guyot. Barrios, a midfielder now at Cal State Fullerton, was the Newport-Mesa Player of the Year. This year’s team, by contrast, has just two seniors in Rodriguez, a forward, and White, a defender. But both are four-year varsity players who can be relied on for leadership. Nine sophomores also will play heavy minutes, Juarez said, and they are eager to put their own stamp on the program.

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Newport Harbor

Coach: Larry Draluck (ninth year)

2014-15 season: 4-14-1, 3-6-1 in the Sunset League (fifth place); failed to qualify for the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs

Players to watch: Sianna Siemonsma (Jr.); Kailynn Thomas (Sr.); Emily Johnson (Fr.); Paige Fults (Sr.); Grace Blackman (Sr.); Emily Goltz (Sr.); Kathryn Peters (Jr.)

You should know: Draluck said the Sailors will once again hang their hats on the defensive end of play, and play possession-style soccer on the offensive end. On that end they also possess a gifted scorer in Siemonsma, a University of Washington commit who started fast, scoring six goals in the Sailors’ first seven games. Fults and Blackman are senior captains in the midfield, as is Goltz on central defense.

The Sailors have had a lot of matches early in the season in preparation for league play, where they want to improve on their fifth-place finish from last year. The Sunset League is tough year-in and year-out, but Newport Harbor has not advanced to the CIF playoffs since back-to-back showings in 2010-11 and 2011-12.

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Sage Hill

Coach: Mike Hammond (third year)

2014-15 season: 15-5-2, 10-0 in the Academy League (champion); lost to Simi Valley Royal in second round of CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs

Players to watch: Lexi Magliarditi (Sr.); Claire Novotny (Sr.); Rachael Jaffe (Sr.); Jaclyn Gerschultz (Sr.); Tiffany Taylor (Sr.); Kayla Gratzer-Von Lintel (Soph.)

You should know: Sage Hill brings back an experienced core group to defend its league title. Not only did the Lightning win the title last year but they dominated, not allowing any goals in league play. Sage Hill returns key defenders in Jaffe, Gerschultz and Taylor, though standout goalie Kekai Whitford, a three-time Newport-Mesa Dream Team selection in soccer, is now playing volleyball at Loyola Marymount. Sage is carrying two goalies on varsity this year, Gratzer-Von Lintel and junior Sarah Lowey.

Magliarditi and Novotny are top forwards for Sage Hill, which graduated just two seniors from last year’s team. The Lightning began the season ranked No. 10 in Division 4.