SOUTHERN SECTION SOCCER PLAYOFFS : Girls’ Roundup : Bloom, Los Alamitos Do It Again to Troy, 1-0

The Los Alamitos girls’ soccer team took a cue from the past and defeated Troy, 1-0, in a second-round Southern Section 3-A playoff game Tuesday.

When the teams met in a nonleague game this season, the Griffins secured the victory with a late second-half goal and a strong performance from senior goalie Mara Bloom.

This time, Bloom tended the net again, and Los Alamitos again scored its goal in the second half. The only difference Tuesday was that the Griffins scored relatively early--eight minutes into the half--on Susanna Grote’s shot from five feet.

“That’s what I expected,” Troy Coach Cliff Trimble said. “I thought it would be a low-scoring game. We played once before and it was an excellent game. They won the first game with a goal in the last 30 seconds.”

Troy (19-3-4) was the Freeway League champion. Empire League champion Los Alamitos (20-1-4) plays Foothill, a 2-1 winner over La Quinta, on Friday in the quarterfinals. Los Alamitos’ loss came against Torrance in the Ocean View Tournament.

“No one expected us to do this well,” Los Alamitos Coach Leonard Lopez said. “The last time a team did go undefeated in the Empire League (Pacifica), it went on win the CIF championship. I think we have a really good chance to do that.”

Bloom is one of the big reasons behind Lopez’s optimism. She has recorded back-to-back shutouts in the playoffs, including a 4-0 victory over Pasadena Muir in the opener. She has 15 shutouts.

The Griffins held the Warriors to just 11 shots on goal.

“We played very sound defense today,” Lopez said. “They were on. We played very well in the first 10 minutes of the second half. If we hadn’t scored then, I think we would have had trouble scoring, especially after we had all the momentum.”

In other 3-A matches:

Laguna Hills 2, Mater Dei 0--Erica Ziencina scored off a pass from Shelley Walker five minutes into the game, and Erin McGinnis scored with an assist by Lindsey Rhebeck at the 21-minute mark to lead the Hawks at Laguna Hills.

The No. 1-ranked Hawks (21-0-4) had outstanding defensive play by fullbacks Leah Miller and Monica Shrout, sweeper Heather McIntyre, stopper Xanne Brakke and center halfback Jenny Cowper. Laguna Hills’ goalkeeper Lynn Lambert had five saves for her 23rd shutout.

“We played a very good first half and decided to go into a state of semi-hibernation in the second half,” said Kerry Krause, Laguna Hills coach.

Michelle Lodyga had eight saves for Mater Dei (17-6-2).

Arcadia 4, Woodbridge 0--Kristen Cooke scored two goals and Terri Smaldino and Julie DeCastro each scored one to lead Arcadia (16-7-2) at Irvine High School. Woodbridge finished 9-8-3.

Foothill 2, La Quinta 1--Michelle McCain scored two goals in the final 11 minutes for the Knights (21-9-3). Kristen Harkins scored with 10 minutes remaining in the first half for the Aztecs (22-4-3).

In 2-A games:

Valencia 4, Westridge 2--Debbie Laporte scored three goals to lead the Tigers at Westridge. Laporte scored in the first half at the 12-minute and 22-minute mark, and 18 minutes into the second half. Juliette Yoseloff added one for Valencia late in the first half, giving the Tigers a 3-1 halftime lead. Goalkeeper Betsy Cruz had seven saves for Valencia (17-6-1).

Kennedy 3, Thousand Oaks 2 (OT)--Christy Demont scored all three goals for the Irish at Kennedy.