PREP ROUNDUP : Esperanza Girls Clinch the Empire League Soccer Title

After weeks of illness, injury and lingering self-doubt, the Esperanza High School girls’ soccer team found what it was looking for Tuesday in a 3-0 Empire League shutout over Los Alamitos.

With coaches from Stanford, California and UC Santa Barbara looking on, the host Aztecs played one of their best games this season to clinch their third league championship in as many years.

“You couldn’t ask for a better script,” Esperanza Coach John Coppage said. “We played an excellent team. We dominated an excellent team. Once again, we just proved we can play with anybody.”

Times haven’t always been so happy for the Aztecs (21-2-3 overall, 7-0-2 in league) this season. Though it has never dropped below fourth in the Southern Section 4-A poll, Esperanza, currently ranked third, has had to battle through many emotional highs and lows this year.

“We’ve been trying to figure it out all season,” Jennifer Gulden, a senior, said. “We’ve talked together and we’ve cried together.”

Tuesday, they cheered together. Especially in the second half, when Esperanza scored goals at the fourth, fifth and ninth minutes.

Michelle Rullo scored the first goal, slamming in the Chrissy Coppage shot that had rebounded off the crossbar. One minute later, Coppage crossed a high ball to Rullo and Rullo scored on a header. Less than five minutes later, Gulden scored after some fancy dribbling. “One of the hottest goals I’ve ever seen in girls’ soccer,” Coppage said.

Esperanza’s defense, anchored by Jenise Webb, Sherri Buente and goalkeeper Jennifer Bryant, was just as tough, frustrating the Griffins (11-4-3, 5-1-3) whenever they closed in.

“We just got beat to the ball,” said Los Alamitos Coach Leonard Lopez, whose team has tied but never defeated Esperanza and will finish as the league’s runner-up for the third consecutive season. “We had a 10-minute lapse in the second half and everything they shot went in.”