Girls’ Soccer: Edison explodes against Cypress

IRVINE — Nothing spreads holiday cheer like a community gathering.

The prestigious Excalibur Tournament has that effect on local soccer fans, energizing the sport’s base to come out and watch some of the top high school teams.

With as many as four games being played side-by-side at once, soccer afficionados were in heaven, and so too was the Edison High girls’ soccer team.

The Chargers scored twice off of set pieces, and Jessica Neighbors made seven saves in Edison’s 3-0 win over Cypress on Tuesday in a first-round game of the Excalibur Tournament at Orange County Great Park.

Edison shut out the Centurions (2-5-3) in the tournament for the second straight year. The Chargers (4-2-3) won the teams’ meeting, 5-0, last season en route to a fifth-place showing at the tournament.

That was the first game following a one-goal defeat to eventual Excalibur champion Esperanza in the quarterfinals.

The Chargers are back on the big stage, fueled by a desire to avenge some close losses from a year ago. Aside from the small sample size of the Excalibur Tournament, Edison was also eliminated from the 2016 playoffs by Tesoro, 1-0.

Those Titans, led by then freshman striker Ally Cook, went on to finish as the runner-up to Santa Margarita in both the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs and the SoCal Regional final.

That shows how close the Chargers were to being one of the elite teams last season. Their roster is stocked with returners. Neighbors, one of the team’s 12 seniors, spoke to a team-wide confidence after Tuesday’s match.

“I feel like we’re a lot stronger this year,” Neighbors said. “We’re working on a lot of new styles of play, new formations. We definitely have a lot of seniors and a lot of confidence on this team.”

Edison opened up the playbook against the Centurions. The team largely operated on the wings in last year’s campaign, but it pushed the pace, especially through the middle of the field.

That tactic was noticeable early on, with center midfielder Rachelle Elve attacking when she was on the ball and creating for the forwards.

“Our coaches have been saying that we’ve just been playing through the forwards and nobody has been going to help them,” Elve said. “We just kick it and then it’s like, ‘Okay, good luck.’”

“[Coach Kerry Crooks] has been playing me defensively, so I’m just using that as a key to go forward because I know that I have Malia [Walencewicz] behind me to cover me.”

Cypress goalie Genevieve Crenshaw made eight saves, but the freshman allowed a soft goal to open the scoring in the 25th minute. Michael Guptill delivered a corner kick to the near side. Crenshaw muffed the catch, and the ball slipped in behind her.

Seven minutes into the second half, Guptill found herself attacking on the rush. She fed the ball in. Control of the ball eluded a defender, and a shot by Elve hit the right post. The rebound caromed to Cassidy Helenihi, who lifted it into a gaping cage for the 2-0 lead.

Cypress had a golden opportunity to get back into the game in the 52nd minute. The Centurions switched the field, and Kendall Bowdish found herself in space with time on the right side of the box.

Bowdish deked a defender before lifting a cross to Centurions striker Tatum Gee. The senior had options, but she appeared to get stuck between playing a header or striking it with her knee and the attempt missed the net.

“That was just miscommunication in the back,” Neighbors said. “Nobody followed [Gee] in, but I saw that, and instead of watching the cross, I just watched her in the center of the goal. Good thing she was indecisive about that.”

Helenihi added an insurance marker four minutes later off another corner kick.

Edison has gotten off to fast starts in terms of field position. As nice as it is to put shots on the opponent’s net, Crooks would like to see the attempts become more threatening.

“I think that is something that we just have to get a little stronger at,” she said. “We do tend to get up there, and then they’re afraid of missing, so they make sure that it’s on frame.”

“They need to put a little more power behind them for sure.”

The Chargers were hit by the injury bug late, as forward Lexi Oates suffered a hyper-extended left knee when she landed awkwardly after taking a shot in the 59th minute.

Crooks said that the trainer did not detect any damage to the ACL or MCL.

Edison squares off with Northwood in the second round tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.

Also in the Excalibur Tournament:

Esperanza 2, Ocean View 0: Jillian Erwin scored both goals for the defending Excalibur Tournament champions in their win over the Seahawks (2-7).

Maddie Kline and Sophie Saouma drew the assists on the goals for the Aztecs (8-0).