Los Alamitos Beats Darkness, Royal in Soccer Quarterfinal

Call it a shot in dark, but Los Alamitos High will take it. After nearly 120 minutes of scoreless soccer, Karen Kolodziej slipped a shot through the encroaching darkness and past Royal goalkeeper Carolyn Rahn to give the Griffins a 1-0 victory in a girls’ Southern Section 4-A Division playoff quarterfinal Friday at Rancho Simi Community Park.

Kolodziej’s goal, her 14th of the season, came just five seconds before the final whistle and unleashed a wild Los Alamitos celebration.

“I don’t know really what happened, I just shot,” said Kolodziej, who found the lower-right corner of the net despite being blanketed by Royal’s Cathy McGowan.

“The girl did the smart thing and took the shot,” Royal Coach Kevin Corley said. “If she had held on to it, we’d still be playing.”

But the twilight skies might have had as much to do with Royal’s loss as any moves Kolodziej made.

“(Rahn) had it but she couldn’t see it,” Corley said. “A lot of our opponents know that (Rahn) can’t see very well in the dark.”

Before darkness fell, Rahn came up with nine saves, including two within 30 seconds of each other in the first sudden-death period.

Nine minutes into the first sudden-death period, Rahn made a leaping save on a high Kolodziej shot from 30 yards then, seconds later, made a lunging stop on Jenny Reyes’ shot during a one-on-one situation.

Rahn smothered the ball again in the penalty area at the seven-minute mark in the second sudden-death period when Erin Ryan broke through on an attack.

“It only takes one kick,” Rahn said. “It’s the kind of game I like. If we had won 8-0, it would have been boring. But it only takes one goal and they got it.”

Royal (21-6-1) had twice as many shots on goal as Los Alamitos (21-3-2) but could not find a way to beat Kathy Skoglund, the Griffin goalkeeper. Skoglund was helped by the loss of Staci Blough, Royal’s leading scorer with 26 goals, who left the match in the first half after injuring a thigh in a collision.