Girls’ Soccer: Oilers bow out
Going into halftime scoreless on Tuesday night, the Huntington Beach High girls’ soccer team had to like its chances against JSerra.
It took just two minutes into the second half, though, for the Lions to pounce.
Twelve minutes after that, JSerra struck again.
“We should have kept our composure,” Huntington Beach Coach Raul Ruiz said. “Against a team like that, you can’t get distracted, and that’s what happened to us.”
The Oilers blinked, and it was top-seeded JSerra that came out with a 2-1 victory in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinal match at Huntington Beach High.
JSerra (18-1-3) got goals from Taylor Gosselin and Isabella D’Aquila in booking an all-Trinity League final. The league champion Lions will play Mater Dei, which won at Hart in the other semifinal, in the Division 1 title game.
The season might continue for Huntington Beach (18-8-7). The Oilers could compete in the CIF SoCal Regional tournament, for which brackets will be released on Sunday.
For now, they have to take solace in the fact that they had a historic season, making the CIF semifinals for the first time. They also won the Sunset League in 2014-15 and 2015-16, before finishing third this year.
“From being not even ranked, coming in as the underdog, everyone’s like, ‘Huntington Beach, no need to worry about them,’” Oilers senior center back Katie Martinez said. “But it’s like, don’t worry about what the numbers say. Come out, work hard, make sure you’re not making mistakes and if you do, recover from them. And look, we made it to the semis.
“Winning the Sunset League two years in a row and then coming in here and making the semis of CIF? In three years, that’s a pretty good record, I’d say.”
Senior goalie Rachel Harris, the hero in penalty-kick wins over San Clemente and Chino Hills in the previous two playoff rounds, kept the Oilers in Tuesday’s match early. In the opening minutes, she blocked a header toward the goal off the crossbar. On the ensuing JSerra corner kick, Harris made another save on Isabella D’Aquila’s header toward the goal.
The Oilers had their best chance of the first half in the 10th minute, after freshman Xolani Hodel was fouled near the Huntington Beach sideline. Alijah Oliver’s low free kick skipped past defenders to the left side of the box, but JSerra was there to deny the chances of Anna Carleton and Cina Wilson.
Hodel played the ball up to Carleton on the counterattack later in the half, but her shot from the left was saved by JSerra keeper Kiana Soloman at the post. Soloman started for JSerra as the usual starting goalie, Ryan Campbell, was out with a red card from the Lions’ quarterfinal win at Los Alamitos.
Going into the intermission with a scoreless tie, the Oilers were pumped up.
“We had them right where we wanted them,” Harris said. “They’ve been up in every game they’ve played; it hasn’t been 0-0 at halftime. I just had a good feeling about this game. Their coach was getting frustrated, their players were getting frustrated. It was obvious. You could see it on the field. Then in the second half, we came out slow and they punished us.”
The Lions came out inspired on their way to beating their second straight Sunset League foe. In the 42nd minute, freshman Samantha Williams crossed it in the box to Gosselin for the goal.
Then, in the 54th minute, D’Aquila got loose. Harris met D’Aquila at the top of the box, but the sophomore, Orange County’s leading scorer, deposited her 29th goal of the season into the back of the net.
“Against a team like them, they’re very dominant in their game plan,” Ruiz said. “Once they scored that first one, we had to do something to adjust. And unfortunately, right after that adjustment, here comes the second one. When you’re down 2-0, it takes the psychological part, the emotion away from you. Our team reacted a little too late but we fought, we stayed with them. They’re a great program and we tried our best.”
The Oilers got on the scoreboard in stoppage time, when Harris’ long free kick created a scrum in the box. Wilson stuck in the goal, but the game ended moments later.
Huntington Beach will hope to keep its season going next week in regionals. Harris and Hodel also will play for the Oilers girls’ basketball team on Friday, as they battle Bishop Montgomery for the CIF Southern Section Division 1A title at 5 p.m. at Azusa Pacific University.
The University of Arkansas-bound Harris, one of four team captains along with Martinez, Oliver and junior defender Brianna Barnes, said she is content if she has played her final game of high school soccer. Martinez is bound for New Mexico State.
“If we do [make regionals], we’ll come back and contend for the state title,” Harris said. “If we don’t, I’m happy how we ended this game and happy how I went out, if this is my last game played here. I’m not emotional about it right now, and I’m sure it will hit me later, but I’m happy with how the team played in general.”
Twitter: @mjszabo
