The Los Alamitos High girls soccer team advanced to the semifinals of the Open Division CIF-SS playoffs with a 1-0 win over Capistrano Valley High on Saturday. The lone goal of the game came on a penalty kick after a hand ball penalty in the goal box was called on the Cougars. Viviana Zacarias took the shot and placed a low kick inside the left post for the goal.
The Griffins had defeated the Cougars in their first meeting, 2-1, on Wednesday at Los Alamitos High. The Open Division uses a “Champions League,” style format, where teams play each other twice and the cumulative score of the two games determines who advances.
So, the Griffins started Saturday’s second game with a 1-goal lead and they employed a more defensive strategy. One key was moving Viviana Zacharias to the center-back position to help quarterback the defense.
“We took a very little risk in the back because of the score … and if they would have scored, we would have adjusted,” Rossi said.
They also made sure to keep a defensive marker on Capo Valley senior striker Lauren Longworth, one of their top scorers. Griffin Head Coach Pat Rossi said that the defensive strategy worked pretty well and the fact that the Cougars needed one goal to force overtime and two goals to win, kept added pressure on Capo Valley.
When the Griffins took the one-goal lead, the pressure ramped up even more. The Griffins had scored both goals on Wednesday on set plays, a free kick and a corner kick, that were both headed in for goals by Zamorah Malinoski, off kicks by Zacharias.
“All of our goals were off set pieces, we work a lot on those in practice, and they kind of paid off,” Rossi said.
In the 68th minute, Longworth found some space at the top of the goal box and got off a solid shot, but it was deflected by a defender and sailed high. She also got a break on the through pass in the 76th minute. Griffin goalie Averie Gonzalez rushed out to meet the ball. Longworth got a foot on it, but Gonzalez got just enough of it to deflect it wide right.
With a two-game cumulative score of 3-1, the Griffins advanced to the semifinals. They hosted No. 2 Santiago of Corona on Wednesday (past Sun press time). The second game will be at Santiago High on Saturday at 6 p.m.
