GIRLS’ SOCCER PLAYOFF ROUNDUP : Canyon Ousted Quickly With a One-Two Punch

The Canyon girls’ soccer team reached the Southern Section Division III-A Final Four two seasons in a row, but it won’t happen this year.

Canyon was shot down, 4-0, Wednesday by Palos Verdes in a second-round playoff game at Anaheim.

Afterward, Canyon Coach John Williams was philosophical, but he wasn’t offering any excuses.

“Soccer is a game of luck--good luck and bad,” Williams said. “The best team doesn’t always win. But today, the team that won was definitely the best team.”

Palos Verdes (22-3-2), the fourth-ranked team in the division, took an early lead when wing Kelly Olsen scored on a pass from wing Polly Hackathorne five minutes into the game.

Three minutes later, Palos Verdes freshman striker Traci Arkenberg scored her 36th goal of the season when she took a cross from teammate Tracey Maye and beat Comanche goaltender Tina Thompson for a 2-0 lead.

The Sea Kings added two goals in the second half, with Palos Verdes’ third score coming from Hackathorne on an assist from Olsen, who capped the scoring herself in the 31st minute with an unassisted goal.

“I was kind of expecting to see two, maybe three goals total,” Palos Verdes Coach Jim Alotis said. “I was amazed that we scored as much as we did. But we’ve got a lot of scoring punch. Arkenberg and Hackathorne really complement each other well up front.”

Palos Verdes’ one-two punch was too much for Canyon (16-4-5), which was outshot, 13-4. Palos Verdes goalie Michelle Garland posted her 16th shutout of the season.

“The shots were a little lopsided,” Williams said. “Still, I thought we had a good chance going in.”

Canyon’s defense suffered a major blow when senior Julie Gribble--a four-time all-Century League sweeper--was injured 15 minutes into the first half.

In other Division III-A games:

Sunny Hills 4, Laguna Hills 0--Rhonda Partida and Heidi Gugler each scored two goals for visiting Sunny Hills (19-2-2).

Estancia 2, Redlands 1 (OT)--Tracie Manz centered the ball from the right corner and it bounced off Lauren Weaver to Danielle Straub, who scored into the right side of the goal for Estancia (17-2-4) 3 minutes 40 seconds into the second sudden-death overtime period.