CITY SECTION SOCCER PLAYOFF PREVIEW : Chatsworth Is Leaving Nothing to Chance in Its Quest for Elusive Title

Chatsworth High Coach Richard Doran was keeping a watchful eye on his soccer team during workouts this week, making sure everyone was taking the carefully orchestrated penalty kick drill seriously.

“Last year we lost the playoffs on a sudden-death penalty kick,” Doran reminded the team, “So you can’t afford to take little things like this lightly. Get with it out there.”

There isn’t much Doran takes for granted as a coach, and as a result, nobody takes Chatsworth lightly as a team, either.

It’s his attention to minor details that Doran hopes will lead his team to the City final again this season. And when Chatsworth hosts a first-round playoff game at 2:30 today against Lincoln, Doran will be aiming for the final for the third time in his six-year tenure at the school.

And the talk around town is that Chatsworth has another good shot at the final and its first City title.

At this stage, the day before the team’s sixth playoff appearance in as many years, Doran is leaving nothing to chance.

“We never run the penalty kick drill during the regular season,” Doran said. “But in the playoffs, that’s how games can be decided when they end in a tie.

And Doran isn’t about to allow a repeat of last year’s final. The tie-breaker in 1986 was just the latest in a series of heartbreakers for Chatsworth, and despite having some of the best individual talent in the Valley area and winning the West Valley League five of the past six years, the Chancellors still haven’t won the title.

The Chancellors lost in the City finals in 1980 and 1983. But this year’s team could provide Doran’s deliverance.

“This team has more depth and more talent than any I’ve ever been associated with,” Doran said. “We lost a couple of starters to eligibility and a couple to injury earlier in the season, and there really hasn’t been any noticeable drop-off in the level of play.

“In the past, we have always had one or two guys that really stood out, but even after the problems this season, we’re still making it with quality players.”

And this season, players such as team captains Steve Michalko and Chuck Gordon have picked up where graduates such as Mike McAndrew, Frank Cubillos and Gary Wolfe--each players for Cal State Northridge and all-conference picks in the California Collegiate Athletic Association--left off.

Michalko, a two-time league most valuable player, is one of the latest in the Chatsworth chain.

“I think this team is solid on the field, and strong enough to make it up the hill,” said Michalko, a three-year letterman. “I watched my brother Dave play for Chatsworth in the City finals the year before I joined the varsity. I want to know what it’s like, too.”

The Chancellor lineage is partly attributable to a strong American Youth Soccer Organization program in the Winnetka area, where players often begin playing together long before they enter high school. Michalko and Gordon have been playing together since they were 10.

“The AYSO program here is especially strong in that they involve older players and age groups,” Doran said. “Most of the guys on this team have played on three or four club teams, or even a recreational team over the summers or before they get here.”

And Doran recognizes a hotbed of talent when he sees one.

“You could say Chatsworth directly reaps the benefits,” Doran said. “The AYSO serves as a feeder program to the school.”

Meanwhile, Chatsworth feeds on Valley opponents. The Chancellors finished with a 10-0-4 record this season, despite using a goalie who never had played the position.

Yet somehow, Chatsworth always has found a way to falter. Last year, the team lost the penalty-kick shoot-out to Roosevelt. In 1980, they were eliminated after bad weather forced them to play three playoff games in four days. In 1982, his team watched from the stands as Cleveland--which Chatsworth defeated in league play--won the City title. In 1983, the team couldn’t carry its season-long momentum into the championship game.

“We watched the Cleveland game in ’82 and said to ourselves, ‘We beat those guys, that should be us out there,’ ” Doran said. “The next year we made it all the way to the finals and had a big letdown. It was like everybody was just content to make it to the finals, and forgot about winning the game.”

The latest kick in the shins for Chatsworth came over the Christmas break, when senior goalie Wes Dixon injured his hand snow skiing. When Chatsworth faces Lincoln today, sophomore Scott Kuhn will be making his first varsity start as a goalkeeper.

“Sometimes I really think luck plays a part in it,” Doran said. “I’ve seen teams dominate an entire game and still lose, 1-0. To win it all, teams have to have the right combination of a good team and a little luck.

“This team has the capability of going all the way or losing in the first round.”

Chiding the Chancellors in practice was Doran’s way of making sure that when the playoffs start today, win or lose, Chatsworth will get its money’s worth.

Other first-round games today at 2:30 p.m. include: Roosevelt at Kennedy; Grant at Los Angeles; Belmont at Reseda; Monroe at Poly; Narbonne at Venice; Jefferson at San Pedro; and Westchester at Garfield.