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Los Angeles Times
08-03-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
High School Roundup: Sage Hill girls' soccer to host regional final
The Sage Hill girls' soccer team has walked a tightrope for much of the postseason, and that theme has continued this week. Freshman Capri Hall scored on a penalty kick, as the Lightning struck in extra time for a 1-0 victory over visiting Santa Maria on Thursday to advance to the CIF State Southern California Regional Division IV final. Senior Cambria Thomas earned the penalty-kick chance for top-seeded Sage Hill (13-3-3), which will host La Mirada (13-8-6) in the championship game on Saturday at 5 p.m. The Lightning prevailed over the Matadors in penalty kicks a week ago after the sides failed to produce a goal through regulation and overtime in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 title game. Four of the past five matches have gone past regulation for Sage Hill, with three of those being decided in a penalty-kick shootout. El Centro Central 2, Laguna Beach 1: Seniors Mishel Villanueva and Joseph Rosas scored for the visiting Spartans on Thursday in a CIF State Southern California Regional Division IV semifinal. Senior Nayan Martlin scored for Laguna Beach (16-5-5), which was the CIF Southern Section Division 4 champion. Senior Max Garner drew the assist for the Breakers, who also won the Pacific Coast League title this season. Central (26-2-4) will travel to take on top-seeded Carlsbad Pacific Ridge (22-2-3) in the regional final on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Los Angeles Times
20-02-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Laguna Beach boys' soccer edges past Long Beach Poly in CIF quarterfinals
LONG BEACH — Dakota Guzman couldn't contain his excitement at the end of the proceedings on the pitch on Wednesday at Long Beach Poly. The senior midfielder approached Laguna Beach boys' soccer coach Andy Thomas, lifted him in the air, and exclaimed where the team was headed. That destination is the semifinals after the visiting Breakers held on for dear life in the second half of a 2-1 win over the Jackrabbits in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs. 'They bombarded us a little bit the last 10 minutes,' Thomas said. 'They bombarded us.' Laguna Beach (14-5-5) went unscathed, despite Long Beach Poly (10-8-6) pulling numbers forward and even sending its goalkeeper into the box for successive free kicks in the closing seconds. Breakers goalkeeper Cole Anderson made a point-blank save on Roger Juarez, who was left alone for a header in the box in the 63rd minute. Anderson absorbed the initial pace of the shot and caught the ball on a bobble. Another close call came in the 49th minute. Roberto Bermudez fed in a shallow cross from the left wing. Anderson sold out on a dive off his line to stop its progress across the goal. The ball laid precariously out of the reach of Anderson, and Guzman was there to clear it away with the Jackrabbits crashing the net. 'We just played more conservatively,' Guzman said. 'We didn't take any chances. We just played our game. Both of our center backs are pretty solid back there, and with me dropping in and playing conservatively, they really have no chance.' Julian Reichel opened the scoring, all of which occurred in the first half, when he settled down a ball played in behind the defense by left back Jackson Arrasin. 'I tried to get onside initially because I thought I was off, so I tried taking a few steps back, saw the ball go over,' Reichel said. 'I knew I had a chance. I didn't think there was a guy too close to me on my back. I saw the ball bouncing, I checked the goal quickly, and the keeper was on his line, not even close to coming out, so I knew I could take my time.' Poly equalized in the 24th minute on a pretty passing play. Kaya Paz, a driver of possession for the Jackrabbits in the midfield, forced a turnover deep in the attacking third and found Joshua Martinez in the center of the box for the goal. Laguna Beach, the Pacific Coast League champion, answered back via a set piece in the 38th minute. Center back Luke Singer served the ball up to the back post from the right corner flag, and Guzman headed it back across the goal and inside the post for a 2-1 lead. 'It means everything for me, and I think for the team, as well,' Guzman said of the playoff run continuing. 'We set a goal at the beginning of the season to win CIF. We've been building our team up for four years, and I think it's just time. It's really nice to see it all come through at the end of the year, and I'm glad we're here. I'm ready for semifinals.' Nayan Martlin narrowly missed giving the Breakers some breathing room, as his shot hit the left post squarely and stayed out in the 62nd minute. If the celebratory mood of the Breakers was something to behold after advancing to a semifinal date at home against Empire League champion Santa Ana (13-6-2) on Saturday night at 6 p.m., Thomas said it was a scene of pure jubilation in the second round at San Bernardino Indian Springs. Laguna Beach trailed 2-0 in the final five minutes of the game, before Tom Schmidt and Reichel scored to send the game to extra time. Martlin supplied the winner in double overtime. 'It's a bit of a turning point, isn't it?' Thomas said. 'If you know you can come back 2-0 down with five minutes to go, then you know you can do it, don't you? It's a bit of belief.' Singer weighed in on the second-round comeback, too. 'That game was insane,' he said. 'Maybe four minutes left, and we scored both of them off set pieces, so that was a really good win for us.' Also in the CIF Southern Section boys' soccer playoffs: Edison 3, Anaheim Canyon 2: Micah Novak had a goal and an assist for the visiting Chargers on Wednesday in a Division 2 quarterfinal game. Edison (15-4-1), the Sunset League champion, got three unanswered goals — from Novak, Ben Hickman and Oliver Worster — after falling behind 1-0 in the contest. Andrew Mosham made a save in the final minute to preserve the win for Edison, which plays host to Studio City Harvard-Westlake (12-5-2) in a semifinal on Saturday at 5 p.m. Los Amigos 3, Norwalk 3 (LA advances 5-4 on PKs): Erubey Bermudez had two goals and an assist on Wednesday in a Division 5 quarterfinal that could not be decided in regulation or extra time. Jose Vargas also had a goal and an assist for top-seeded Los Amigos (11-5-3), which will travel to take on Compton Dominguez (14-2-2) in the semifinals on Saturday.
Los Angeles Times
20-02-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Sage Hill girls' soccer outlasts Costa Mesa, makes first CIF semifinal
A hundred minutes and nine perfect finishes from the penalty spot in a hard, gritty, spirited showdown full of incident, joy and woe — not particularly graceful, certainly not pretty — and a moment for which Finlay Maynard had been working all of her soccer life arrived. She handled it expertly. The junior goalkeeper, so vital in keeping shorthanded Sage Hill in its CIF Southern Section Division 4 quarterfinal showdown Tuesday evening at Costa Mesa, dived to her left to save the last of 10 kicks in the shootout that followed a 1-1 draw, sending the Lightning (10-3-1) to the girls soccer semifinals for the first time. The 5-4 triumph in the tiebreaker sets Sage Hill up with a home semifinal date Saturday with Coachella Valley (19-2-3), with La Mirada (11-8-4) or Redlands East Valley (12-5-2) awaiting the following weekend if successful. All four quarterfinals were decided on penalties. 'Oh my gosh, it feels so good,' said Maynard, who made seven saves during play, five after Costa Mesa started connecting passes after the break. 'To be able to do that for my team, and it was the last breath ... it was great. I'm so proud of my team [and] excited to see what the next battle is. We could actually do this.' Costa Mesa (13-7-1), which endured a difficult first half before finding its passing game after the break, had the edge when Tatiana Aguilar scored a beauty into the left-side netting from Riley Ego's cross 10 minutes into the second half. Sage Hill caught up in the 69th minute, Keila Fukuda lobbing a 32-yard free kick over goalkeeper Michelle VIllalva and under the crossbar. There were other chances — the best a Marina Trepas rebound off the top of the crossbar for the Mustangs in first-half stoppage — but little precision as both sides dealt with costly ankle injuries. Costa Mesa lost midfield leader Jazmina Beisner just three minutes in (Mustangs head coach Jason Boyce called it 'a game-changer') and Sage Hill hold-up forward Gisselle Barron fell midway through the second half. Neither side created anything worthwhile over 20 minutes of overtime, but the shootout that followed was electric. Sage Hill, shooting first, made all five of its attempts, by Hall, Fukuda, Tessa Lin, Jaden Rall and Sydney Patel. Costa Mesa caught up after each of the first four, through Gianna Maitian, Grace Boyce, Jocelyn Culp and Kassandra Ramirez, the first three to the upper corner and the last to the lower-left corner. Emiley Davis, so vibrant on the Mustangs' left flank, stepped up for the fifth. She fired to the right. Maynard dived to her left, making the stop simple. 'I've got through years of training [at club powerhouses Slammers and now Pateadores] with penalties,' Maynard said. '[Davis] was looking at the [left] side of the goal the entire time [before shooting], so I just gambled with it. I saw her body language, saw where she was going, and I had to make a decision. And I made the right one.' For Costa Mesa, devastation. 'I really thought that we had it,' said Matian, the Mustangs' backline anchor. 'When she made that save, it felt like everything dropped. We all knew that it was completely over. Everyone's obviously sad and disappointed, because we all worked so hard for it.' Said Boyce: 'It's the game that brings so much joy, but it also breaks your heart at the same time. Especially when you know that you have a solid team in your corner and you can play with any of these teams.' Sage Hill reached the 2021 quarterfinals but hadn't been in the playoffs the past two seasons. Seven of its 12 available players were freshmen — Barron, attacking midfielder Hall, do-everything midfielder Jaden Rall and galvanizing right back Elliot Trout among them — and two were sophomores. 'The girls showed a lot of resilience, and having the right attitude was exactly our DNA that we've been practicing and preaching all year,' Lightning head coach Issac Sierra said. '[The end was] special. That's what the game is. It requires special moments. ... 'The girls earned every single bit of it, so to be where we are today, I'm extremely proud of them. At this stage, anybody can win. Just keep fighting.' In other games: Estancia 2, Tahquitz 1: The Eagles (11-4-4), Costa Mesa's Battle of the Bell archrivals, advanced to the Division 5 semifinals to keep their back-to-back title hopes alive. Vanessa Pastrana, an All-CIF selection from last year D5 titlists, set up Kimberly Muñoz's volley from a short corner kick midway through the first half, then converted a penalty kick with about 10 minutes to go. Valerie Reyes tallied for the Titans (9-6-4) in the final minutes to end a shutout after Kate Jennis made two goal-saving plays for Estancia, which will be home in Saturday's semifinal against Viewpoint (8-5-5). 'We talk about wanting to be at our best and peaking when we get into the playoffs,' Estancia head coach Josh Juarez said. 'Right now we're definitely playing some of out best soccer, and when we're not, we're still competing and fighting throughout the entire game.' Westlake 3, Edison 0: Leyla Simon scored two goals and the Warriors, who knocked of No. 1 JSerra in the first round, posted their third successive playoff shutout to eliminate the visiting Chargers (14-8-3) in Division 1. Westlake (11-5-2) will meet Troy (14-2-2), which ousted Sunset League champion Los Alamitos, 1-0.
