Los Alamitos’ girls soccer team is led by a core of seniors who have been knocking on the door of a CIF-SS Championship for most of their careers, including a runner-up finish in 2019. The soccer season and playoffs reopened just in time for the Griffins to take one more run at a title.
The Griffins got off to a solid start with a 4-0 first round win over Woodbridge in the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs on Wednesday at Los Alamitos High. Four different players found the back of the net and the Griffin defense kept Woodbridge from many quality scoring chances.
The Griffins got the only goal they would need in the 13th minute of the first half. Colby Barnett beat a defender around the left side and was able to move the ball along the goal line for a point-blank shot. She got the goal keeper moving to the right, and slipped a soft low shot into the left side of the net for a 1-0 lead.
The Griffins would add two more goals in the first half for a comfortable 3-0 lead. That allowed them to settle in and keep Woodbridge at bay with pressure and ball movement.
“We’re happy we could score early and happy we could go to halftime 3-0, it kind of takes the pressure off us a little bit,” Head Coach Pat Rossi said.
About two minutes after the Griffins’ first goal, Tabbi LaParl found space about 25 yards straight in front of the goal and she fired a blistering shot that slipped just under the crossbar for a 2-0 lead. LaParl also had an assist on the fourth goal off a free kick in the second half. Her kick from outside the goal box, hit the crossbar and came down in front of the goal. Mimi Abusham got control of the loose ball and beat the goalie with a shot from the right side that pushed the Griffin lead to 4-0.
Los Alamitos had taken their 3-0 lead into half time after Marissa Salazar got space from about 10 yards to put a low shot into the left side of the goal. The Griffins are on the road to take on Aliso Niguel, today at 3 p.m. at Aliso Niguel. Despite the 4-0 win, Rossi said the Griffins missed on some quality scoring chances. He said if they want to make a deep run, they will need to capitalize on those chances that will become scarcer.
“We need to do more with the chances we are getting … we had a lot of chances and we let some go, in tougher games they won’t give you that many chances,” Rossi said.
