Flintridge Prep girls’ soccer marches on to second straight CIF semifinal
TORRANCE — Flintridge Prep coach Esteban Chavez wasn’t sure how the severe winds Friday afternoon would affect his team in its playoff match.
The coach also wasn’t sure if a size advantage that favored West Torrance would be a factor in the CIF Southern Section Division III quarterfinal.
But Chavez was sure of one thing: his squad would turn in a spirited and competitive effort.
It took the Rebels a while to get started, but they were able to score two goals in the final nine minutes of the first half and clamped down on defense to earn a 3-0 victory against the host Warriors.
“I knew that [the Warriors] were big and physical, and that was a concern of mine,” Chavez said. “Then I had no idea about the wind. When we got here and it was blowing pretty good, I really didn’t know what to expect.
“But we were able to deal with it and we had a pretty good effort today.”
The win puts No. 3 seed Flintridge Prep (22-4-2), which captured the Prep League championship, into the program’s second straight semifinal. The Rebels will be on the road Tuesday to take on No. 2 Mayfair. In its quarterfinal Friday, Mayfair (18-3-2), the runner-up from the Suburban League, defeated Peninsula, 1-0.
Last season, Flintridge Prep lost in the Division III semifinals to South Torrance, 3-1, the eventual division champion.
“I’m really proud of this team and I think that we’re all proud to be able to make it this far,” said junior Helen Schaefer, the 2017 All-Area Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year. “It’s been a process and we have been developing as a team.
“Our goal for this season was to at least get this far and go even further and reach the final. We don’t have any over-confidence, but we expected to get to where we are now and we’ve worked hard to get here.”
The Rebels go into the semifinals having won 17 straight and are 20-0-2 in their last 22 matches, having last lost Dec. 9 to Harvard-Westlake, 3-1.
Freshman Mackenna Dominguez had a goal and an assist for Prep, with senior Julia Gonzalez and Schaefer tallying the other goals.
Flintridge Prep faced off against a West Torrance (17-4-3) team that tallied just two goals in its previous two playoff contests and had to defeat Sherman Oaks Notre Dame in a shootout to advance to the quarterfinals.
Those offensive struggles continued for the Warriors, who placed third in the Pioneer League, in the first half against the Rebels as they didn’t register a shot on goal.
Although the Rebels dominated the first half, creating a wealth of scoring chances, they couldn’t tally a goal through the first 30 minutes.
“We didn’t panic when we didn’t score early on,” Dominguez said. “We knew because of the wind it was going to be tough and they were really physical, so we might not score right away.
“We just had to keep going and going and we knew we would eventually score.”
Flintridge Prep broke through in the 31st minute. Dominguez was knocked down from behind in the box and the Rebels were awarded a penalty kick. Dominguez took the offering and beat goalkeeper Sam Bustos low and to her right for a 1-0 lead.
The Rebels made it 2-0 in the 37th minute when Gonzalez scored on an assist from junior Mikaela Celeste.
“I thought we started out on fire in that first half and we really dominated play,” Chavez said. “We just couldn’t capitalize on a lot of those chances. It wasn’t frustrating, but we just wanted to get the first goal in.”
With a 2-0 lead at the half, Flintridge Prep didn’t pack it in on defense in the second half and played in its usual formation.
West Torrance played much better in the opening 15 minutes of the second half, creating three prime scoring opportunities, but could not get anything past Rebels goalkeeper Lindsey Uteda (five saves).
Flintridge Prep tacked on a goal in the 60th minute when Schaefer scored on an assist from Dominguez.
Twitter: @jefftsports
