Flintridge Sacred Heart soccer peppers La Cañada
LOS ANGELES – Though the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy and La Cañada High girls’ soccer teams entered Friday afternoon’s city showdown on different trajectories, none of that mattered.
The host Tologs peppered the red-hot Spartans with 20 shots and ran away to a 3-1 nonleague victory at Occidental College’s Jack Kemp Stadium.
The victory was the first since Dec. 1 for the Tologs (3-1-1), who entered coming off a 3-2 loss to Westridge on Tuesday and a 2-2 tie against San Gabriel Mission on Monday.
On the flip side, La Cañada (6-3-2) had won four of five matches that included a Duarte Tournament championship.
“We have not been playing that well the last two games and we did everything that we didn’t do in the last two games today,” Flintridge Sacred Heart coach Mark Snashall said. “We put the ball down, knocked it about and played to feet and we talked. We hadn’t been talking and we did that today, which is great.”
After a sluggish 10 minutes of opening action, the Tologs controlled the pace and kept the ball in their attacking third for a good portion as the squad generated 20 shots, versus surrendering eight to the Spartans.
The last of the scores virtually iced the contest as a cross from sophomore Lauren Bolte was chipped in from 12 yards by senior Marissa Venneri in the 54th minute and gave the home team a 3-0 advantage.
Nine minutes earlier, the Tologs took control thanks to a little fortune.
Flintridge Sacred Heart senior Amethyst Trang launched a 35-yard free kick toward teammate Fiona Stayton, who was streaking into the box.
Though the ball passed Stayton, La Cañada’s goalie had her view obstructed and was helpless to stop Trang’s ball as it curled into the left corner of the net for a score in the 45th minute as Flintridge Sacred Heart led, 2-0.
“Honestly, I kicked toward the goal and it was like a prayer,” Trang said. “It was a goal, so I’m happy.”
Flintridge Sacred Heart kicked off the scoring in the 18th minute when Krista Celo knocked in a 10-yard rebound goal.
Stayton initially blasted a 20-yard free kick that required a diving save from La Cañada’s Ashley Messier, who finished with nine saves.
While Messier was down after the block, a well-positioned Celo one-timed the score.
“I think we really needed this win,” Stayton said. “We needed to get our spirit up and our confidence back.”
La Cañada capitalized in the 58th minute when a cross from senior midfielder Chloe Kouyoumdjian was banged in by senior Gianna Mor off the inner crossbar to bring the score within 3-1.
Mor had a shot bang off the outer cross and go out on a free kick in the 28th minute, while the duo of Mor and Solenn Matuska saw back-to-back shots on goal in the 44th minute denied.
In the 50th minute, a 15-yard blast from Mor just sailed over the bar again.
“I thought today was about the luck of the bounce,” La Cañada coach Kevin Neumeier said. “Good luck for them and it favored them, especially with that free kick that went in. We had a free kick that bounces around and misses. They got the bounces today and we didn’t.”
