Los Amigos impressing in girls’ soccer

Playing in preseason tournaments is something that many local girls’ soccer programs take for granted, but not at Los Amigos High.

Money is tight for many of the Lobos’ players, Coach Cassidy Abad said. The team chooses to spend the money it fund-raises not on tournament entry fees, but on uniforms.

This season was different, though. A team dropped out of the Ocean View tournament and Los Amigos was invited at the last minute. The Lobos did more than hold their own, winning the silver division.

“I think they may have thought we were more of a pushover team, and then we ended up taking out Ocean View on both the JV and varsity side of that tournament,” Abad said. “I don’t think we’ll ever be invited again for free.”

All jokes aside, Los Amigos is far from a pushover. The Lobos are the top-ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division 6 and out to defend its Garden Grove League title from last season. Abad is trying to win her fourth league title in five years as head coach. The program has grown to be very successful, advancing to the Division 7 quarterfinals each of the last two seasons.

Los Amigos came into the week with a 12-2-1 record, 2-0 in league. The Lobos are preparing for a key home game against rival Garden Grove on Friday.

Abad, 31, is a math teacher at Los Amigos and former soccer player in the Garden Grove League as well, at Pacifica. She has a talented and experienced team this year, led by senior forwards Ariana Figueroa and Viviana Flores, the two four-year varsity captains on the team.

Figueroa leads the team with 15 goals, and also has seven assists. Flores has 12 goals, which ties her for second place on the team with sophomore sweeper Vidalia Abarca. Junior midfielder Kimberly Gil is a playmaker, leading the team with 10 assists.

Flores stands 5-foot-1, with Figueroa just an inch taller. But what they lack in height, they make up for it in talent. They have known each other for a while, since their days at Fitz Intermediate, and it shows on the field.

“It feels good knowing that we moved up since my freshman year,” said Flores, who recently earned an Athlete of Character award from Garden Grove Unified School District. Abad was honored as a coach as well.

“We’ve accomplished a lot,” Flores added. “It’s our last year, and we worked hard to get where we are now.”

The Lobos have allowed just four goals all year, two of those against Laguna Beach in a game that Abarca was missing from. They narrowly lost to Fountain Valley, 1-0, and yes that is the same Fountain Valley team that just beat Los Alamitos and Edison in the Sunset League.

Abarca knows she has teammates Lizbeth Martinez, Karla Zetina and Maria Salgado back there to support her on defense, as well as sophomore goalie Mya Rodriguez. At 5-foot-7, Rodriguez is the tallest player on the team.

Abad has only mentioned to her team once that it’s the top team in Division 6. The Lobos want to focus on the Garden Grove League first.

Yet, for a team that has never advanced past the CIF quarterfinals, a Division 6 title would obviously be thrilling.

For a team with not a lot of extra money, yes, it would be a priceless experience.

“I never thought we’d be first in a CIF division, but it’s really cool,” Gil said. “It makes me proud. Us as a team, as we work together, we can accomplish so much.”

Newport JV girls impress

Last week was a nice week for the Newport Harbor girls’ water polo program.

The Sailors varsity girls beat Huntington Beach, 10-8 in overtime, in a key Sunset League game on Jan. 18. Three days later, the junior varsity girls also showed they could impress on the varsity stage.

Newport Harbor’s JV team made the championship game of the Segerstrom varsity tournament before falling to host Segerstrom, 9-6.

The JV Sailors, coached by Colleen McCall and Kevin Potter, went 4-1 overall in the tournament, all against varsity competition. They beat Costa Mesa, 9-6, and Northwood, 9-8, before topping Savanna, 16-5. They then edged Claremont, 9-8, in the semifinals.

Lauren McCracken led Newport with 17 goals in the tournament, and Nikki Clark scored 14. Lauren Carney also had some big goals, and the Sailors also used solid two-meter defense by Jessa Maurer and standout goalkeeping by Erin Ross, who blocked penalty shots in the wins against Northwood and Claremont.

Freshman Emily Cantu scored the winning goal against Northwood with 27 seconds remaining.

“It was a good tournament,” Potter said. “The girls played really well, getting that varsity experience. More physical play, faster tempo, but the girls hung in there really well.”

CdM girls’ polo again heads north

For the second consecutive Friday, the Corona del Mar girls’ water polo team has a key nonleague game.

The Sea Kings, ranked No. 7 in CIF Southern Section Division 1, were proud of the way they gave top-ranked Laguna Beach a good game before falling, 13-7, last week at CdM’s pool.

This week, CdM travels north to Santa Barbara for the second time in two weeks. It’s not for the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions this time, but for a nonleague game against No. 3-ranked San Marcos. The game will be played Friday at 5 p.m. at Santa Barbara High.

This is the Sea Kings’ first meeting with the Royals this season. Last year, San Marcos beat CdM four times, twice in overtime. The fourth time was when San Marcos beat CdM in the quarterfinals of the Division 1 playoffs, 8-5.

USC-bound Paige Hauschild leads San Marcos, which finished third at the TOC.