Girls’ Soccer: Edison dealt blow
IRVINE — In the aftermath of a loss on Wednesday night, Edison High girls’ soccer coach Kerry Crooks mused on the reasons why the game changed face in the second half.
Her conclusion was simple, tried and true.
The longer it takes to put a team away, the stronger its belief becomes.
So it was as the Chargers failed to connect on the final touch of their chances on offense, Temecula Valley had the chance to gain its second wind.
All four of Temecula Valley’s corner-kick opportunities came in the second half, and in the end, one conversion was enough to eliminate the Chargers from the main draw of the Excalibur Tournament.
Christine Maurer scored for the Golden Bears in the 56th minute, felling the Chargers, 1-0, in the quarterfinals at Orange County Great Park.
A corner kick was surrendered by Taylor Wasserman. Alex Vehlow struck the corner kick low. It bounced among a mass of feet, and the senior midfielder freed herself from a defender to score the goal.
Maurer, the Golden Bears’ captain, said her team remained calm in spite of limited opportunities early on. Temecula Valley attempted just four shots in the first half.
“We just keep pushing because we know that we can finish and that we will finish,” Maurer said. “We all believe in each other.”
Five minutes before the decisive strike, Temecula Valley (11-0-0) threatened to break the deadlock. Edison goalie Amy Kirk went after a high bouncing ball at the right side of her net.
Kirk was unable to glove off the ball, and Sophie Ghaderi lobbed a shot toward the open goal. Teagan Wasserman retreated from her midfield position back to the goal line, where she struck the ball in midair for the clear.
“As soon as I saw [Kirk] go out and there was another player, I immediately thought that I had to step back and cover in her place,” Wasserman said. “That was exactly my thought. When the ball came, I just cleared it out.”
Edison (4-3-3) attempted 12 shots in the match, with eight of those coming in the first half. Only one made it through to Temecula Valley goalie Hazel Underwood.
“We should have put them away in the first half,” Crooks said. “When you don’t, you let teams have hope. I think we just let them have hope. That’s their bread and butter it seems like is set pieces, and they put away their set piece.”
When the Chargers were able to get the ball deep into the attacking third, the Golden Bears did not try to possess the ball. Instead, they opted to power it up the field, keeping the ball out of the danger areas.
Defenders Krislyn Highsmith and Emilee Garrett helped to shut down the Chargers’ offense.
“My defenders, they always talk to each other, say who’s going to get it and play it,” Underwood said. “Then the other ones fall back for it. It opens up possession, so that if somebody comes back, they have possession out wide.”
“It helps me out a lot because they’re always talking.”
It was a tough loss to take for Edison, which lost in the quarterfinals of the Excalibur Tournament the previous year.
Crooks noted that her players were recalling the loss to eventual tournament champion Esperanza in the same round last December.
Perhaps the Chargers may have used up all of their ammunition in the morning, as Edison won a 5-3 shootout over Northwood to advance to the quarterfinals.
Amy Feinstein and Cassidy Helenihi had two goals each in the second-round game.
Edison moves into the “Sir Lancelot” fifth-place bracket. The Chargers will face Sunset League rival Huntington Beach at 11 a.m. on Thursday.
