Underestimated and Unbeaten : Laguna Hills, Once Ignored by Rivals, Is Now Getting Even

The Laguna Hills High School girls’ soccer team knew it would begin this season with one disappointment. After ending last season just one game away from the Southern Section 4-A championship game, the Hawks became a 3-A team when Laguna Hills moved from the South Coast League to the Pacific Coast League.

Then came the clincher: When the preseason rankings came out, not only was the team banished from the 4-A rankings, it was also left out of the 3-A Top 10.

“I guess nobody knew about us,” Coach Kerry Krause said.

Whether the 3-A coaches--who, for the record, ranked Laguna Hills No. 11--were unaware of the team or simply underestimated it, surely they know about Laguna Hills now, even though league play has not begun. Laguna Hills has upset Torrance, the top-ranked 4-A team, and Edison, the defending 4-A champion, both by scores of 1-0.

And the clincher: After eight games, the Laguna Hills team that began the season unranked is unbeaten and unscored upon.

Did Krause expect such a start?

“Honestly?” he said. “Yes.”

But goalie Lynn Lambert adds: “He says that every year.”

“This year, I believed it,” Krause said. “I never believed it before.”

This team is more remarkable for the fact that eight of 11 starters are juniors. Says Erin McGinnis, a three-time all-league selection and one of four seniors: “They should have no problem next year.”

The leading scorer, Joanna Noble (6 goals, 2 assists) is a junior, as are Heather McIntyre (4 goals) and Shelley Walker (2 goals). Lambert, the goalie who has yet to look behind her and see the ball settle into the net, is another junior.

“This junior class has so much talent, it’s almost obscene,” Krause said.

It occurred to one junior that if the season continued like this, there might be little to shoot for next year. Don’t worry about that, Krause told her.

“This is soccer,” said Krause, a defense-oriented coach whose idea of exquisite soccer is a 1-0 match. Despite his bold preseason predictions, he, too, thinks the scoreless streak will end.

Lambert also expects it to end.

“It’s not like I’m never going to get scored on,” she said. “When I do, I’ll tell them it’s my fault, I made a mistake. Let’s go.”

Said Krause: “I’ll be curious to see how we act when it happens. Especially if we’re behind at the time.”

Defense has been the central factor in Laguna Hills’ success. The Hawks have scored more than three goals only once this season, and have won four games with two or one goals.

Nor has Lambert been called on to make a tremendous number of saves. In eight games, she has made less than 50, and of those, only a few a game have been difficult.

“We’re asking her to make one, two, three good stops a game,” Krause said. “When you start asking your goalie to make five or 10 big saves, then the other team is going to score.”

The defense, anchored by McIntyre, has made her job relatively easy thus far, Lambert said.

“I haven’t been challenged too much,” Lambert said. “Mostly it’s because Heather is playing so well.”

McIntyre plays an unusual pair of roles for the Hawks. Not only does she play sweeper, she also takes penalty kicks and free kicks.

“It’s not unusual when someone’s as good as Heather,” Krause said.

Laguna Hills could meet Edison and Torrance again this weekend in the 32-team Ocean View tournament, which begins Friday.

“As good as it’s been, some of our play has been a bit erratic,” Krause said. “We’ve been fortunate.”