Girls’ Soccer: Oilers fall in quarters
IRVINE — The Sunset League is expected to be extremely tough in girls’ soccer this season.
Defending champion Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos and Edison all appear to be stacked once again. Fountain Valley and Newport Harbor are much improved.
As it turns out, the Oilers are getting a sneak preview this week at the prestigious Excalibur Tournament.
Huntington Beach lost to Los Alamitos, 1-0, in a tournament quarterfinal Wednesday evening at Orange County Great Park. Next comes a date against Edison.
The Oilers will play the Chargers in an Excalibur Tournament fifth-place semifinal on Thursday at 11 a.m., just five days before league play begins on Tuesday. Edison lost to Temecula Valley, 1-0, in another quarterfinal game.
“Our league is very strong, and every game is going to be one of those grudge matches, you know?” Huntington Beach Coach Raul Ruiz said. “We’ve just got to grind and play.”
Huntington Beach (8-3-4) did so against Los Alamitos (13-1-2), but it wasn’t enough to keep the Griffins from moving on. Los Al is two games away from capturing another tournament, after winning the Aliso Cup earlier this month.
The Griffins got the game’s only goal in the 27th minute, after a corner kick from the left that Huntington Beach was unable to clear. Los Al freshman Jayden Newkirk had her shot from near the top of the box deflected, but it went in anyway.
“We kind of gave away maybe 10 minutes, where they took the advantage,” Ruiz said. “When we gave away the corner kick, [it was] that physicality inside the box. You try to win that second rebound, and that’s what they did, and I think that was the difference in the game. We had our chances in the first half ... and the scramble is what did it for them. You’ve got to give them credit.”
The Oilers, who lost senior defender and team captain Katie Martinez to an ankle injury in the first half, tried to battle back. Junior captain Brianna Barnes and sophomores Renee Wolfe and Kekoa Nelson held down the defense for the remainder of the game, as well as senior goalie and team captain Rachel Harris (four saves).
Huntington Beach pushed for an equalizer, keeping the ball on the Griffins’ side of the field in the second half. Perhaps the best chance was when sophomore Alex Lotter played the ball to fellow sophomore Jenna Nighswonger, whose low shot from near the top of the box was handled cleanly by Los Al goalie Taylor Vanis in the 48th minute.
Later in the half, Huntington freshman Cina Wilson earned a free kick about 20 yards out, near the right sideline. But Los Al senior defender Amanda Jones was able to clear the ball out of danger.
The Griffins always had an answer. Five minutes before the final whistle, Huntington Beach sophomore Delaney Brennan had a shot from 25 yards out that went just wide of the frame, and it was the Oilers’ last good scoring chance.
Still, Ruiz was impressed with the effort from his side.
“The girls listened and applied tactically what we were asking them to do,” he said. “We adjusted better and I think we literally outplayed them ... and maybe three or four more minutes, who knows what would have happened? We could have got a goal.
“[Playing Los Al] is good because you get to actually see a contender in league. You’re going to go and fight to retain your title from last year, and you look forward to it, because you can start dissecting strengths and weaknesses ... They’re always the favorites. We won it back to back, but they’re always the favorites. We’re always a contender. It’s going to be a great, great season. The physicality of the game, the intensity, it’s just at another level.”
Huntington Beach advanced to the Excalibur quarterfinals with a 2-0 win over Anaheim Canyon earlier Wednesday. Nighswonger and Alijah Oliver scored first-half goals for the Oilers.
After Thursday’s action concludes, Huntington Beach can indeed get ready for league. The Oilers, going for a “three-peat,” open at home against Newport Harbor on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
