Mater Dei’s Saule Sadunas Narrows Her Focus

As a high school senior, honor student, yearbook editor and member of several academic societies, Saule Sadunas has plenty of responsibilities to keep her busy during her final semester at Mater Dei High School.

There are yearbook deadlines to meet, scholarship applications to fill out, counselors to see and a 4.3 grade-point average to maintain.

Today, however, her sole focus will be a black and white leather ball.

Sadunas is sweeper and team captain of the Mater Dei girls’ soccer team, which meets Santa Barbara at 2 today in the Southern Section 3-A championship match at Gahr High School in Cerritos.

This is the first appearance in a girls’ soccer final for Mater Dei (22-2-2). And Sadunas, a three-year starter, deserves a great deal of the credit for that achievement.

“As Saule goes, so goes the team,” Mater Dei Coach Marty Breen said. “She is our anchor.”

As sweeper, Sadunas is the heart of the Mater Dei defense. She plays the entire field, but mainly is responsible for the last defense before Monarch goalkeeper Julie Tarnay.

“Without her, I don’t know how the season would have gone,” said Tarnay, a junior in her first year as goalie.

Mater Dei had to adjust this season to the graduation of its two top players, forward Tina Manfre and goalkeeper Michele Lodyga. Tarnay especially was concerned about replacing Lodyga, who for two years was one of the county’s premier goalies and now starts at Notre Dame.

“I was filling in the star’s shoes,” Tarnay said. “There was a lot of pressure, but Saule’s helped me not be nervous. . . . She made me feel I was part of the team from the very beginning.”

She also helped make Tarnay’s debut season very successful.

Mater Dei has shut out 20 of its 26 opponents, tying a school record set last year. It has allowed only 10 goals all season, compared to 15 goals in 29 games last season.

Such statistics are impressive, though Mater Dei players say, with Sadunas on the field, they are not surprised.

“The first time I met her, she stood out in my mind as the best player I have ever seen,” Tarnay said. “I remember thinking how graceful she was, and that she knew the field so well, and the way she tackled the ball just right.

“Every time she plays, she blows me away. I don’t understand how she does what she does.”

Added Kari Marshall, a senior halfback: “She always knows what’s going on, what to do with the ball every time. And she always knows exactly what to say (to the team), like at halftime. It kind of makes me mad--I mean, I wish I could think of those things.”

When asked about her ability, Sadunas says little.

“I think I know a lot about the game,” she said. “And I’ve had a lot of good coaching.” And today, she has plenty of incentive.

Last year, Mater Dei was upset in the semifinals by Canyon, 4-1.Sadunas took a tumble in the first five minutes of that match, breaking her thumb. She played, but not effectively. And Lodyga and Manfre, the team’s leading scorer, also had sub-par performances.

“With your three best players off on the same day, well, that has never happened to this team before,” Breen said. “At our first practice this year, the first question asked was, ‘When do we play Canyon?’ ”

They defeated Canyon Wednesday in the 3-A semifinals, 1-0.

According to Breen, who has coached Mater Dei soccer for 11 years--four years as boys’ coach and the past seven as the girls’ coach--the Canyon game was the best played by any Mater Dei soccer team.

“When I walked on the field for practice (last) Monday, they were dead serious,” Breen said. “I mean, they were ready.

“If they play against Santa Barbara as good as they played against Canyon, I don’t care what Santa Barbara has, they don’t have a chance.”