SOUTHERN SECTION 4-A GIRLS’ SOCCER : Dana Hills Coach Meets Challenge : Playoffs: Ken Ezratty took over a strong soccer program and made it even more successful.

It is never easy replacing a well-liked coach. Ken Ezratty was well aware of that last November when he started his first season as coach of the Dana Hills High School girls’ soccer team.

Ezratty, who had never been a varsity head coach, came to Dana Hills to replace Chuck Hoover, the man responsible for starting the Dolphin girls’ soccer program 10 years ago and for bringing it to prominence in recent years.

In his first week of practice this season, Ezratty already was faced with challenges from his players:

“ Chuck wouldn’t have done it that way.”

“Why should we do that? “

“I’m quitting!”

Now, the story--and the team’s attitude--is quite the opposite.

Dana Hills will meet South Coast League rival El Toro at 6 tonight in the Southern Section 4-A championship match at Gahr High School in Cerritos.

For the Dolphins, who before this year had never gotten past the first round, the turnaround--in spirit as well as success--has been tremendous. Dana Hills started its season by winning the Irvine tournament--a tournament in which it had never advanced past the first round.

Then, in their first league game, the Dolphins upset perennial power Mission Viejo--another first.

Was Ezratty surprised? Shocked? Overwhelmed at his team’s success?

“If you’d asked me when I first took the job, I would’ve said, ‘Yes, I’d be surprised,’ ” Ezratty said. “But once we won the Irvine tournament--and blew everyone out--I knew we were going to be good. Especially since before the season, everyone had said El Toro would be the team to beat, and then we beat them, 2-1, in the (Irvine tournament) final.

“That was a big help. I mean, if we had lost our first four or five games, it would’ve been disastrous. But we had a 10-0 start before we lost our first game. . . . The girls were on a high.”

That’s not what they were feeling like months earlier, when Hoover announced he was leaving the area to buy a home in Vista. “He told the girls he was leaving during summer league,” said Ezratty, 24. “They were devastated. Some of the girls didn’t even show up for his last two games (during summer). . . .

“When I took over, yeah, it was tough. Chuck Hoover was loved by everyone. The faculty liked him, the girls liked him, the community liked him. . . . But I knew I could only coach the way I knew how. I told the girls we would spend this year learning about each other. And that’s what we’ve done.”

Although he is only 24, Ezratty, who teaches advanced placement history at Dana Hills, has the poise and patience of a coaching veteran. Ezratty, who grew up in Torrance, started playing in the South Bay-based American Youth Soccer Organization at 5, before becoming an AYSO referee at 13 and an AYSO coach at 15.

Before Dana Hills, his only high school coaching experience was as an assistant at San Diego Crawford and as a junior varsity coach at Dos Pueblos. But those were boys’ teams.

“This is the first time I’ve coached girls’ soccer,” he said. “It is different. But now, I think I’ve learned how.”

Based on this season’s success, few would dispute that.

Southern Section Soccer Notes

Tonight’s match will be the fourth meeting between El Toro (20-3-3) and Dana Hills (22-3-1) this season. Dana Hills has a 2-1 edge, having beaten El Toro in the Irvine tournament final, and then splitting their league meetings. The two shared the South Coast League title this year. . . . Junior midfielder Shawn Viloria leads the Chargers with 30 goals this season, but has been held scoreless in her last two games. Jen Koenig has 17 goals to lead Dana Hills.