Emotional Oak Park Routs Moorpark : Girls’ soccer: Unsettled by the death of one of the school’s former coaches, the Eagles post a 4-0 win after a sluggish start.

The Oak Park High girls’ soccer team shook off a sluggish start to post a 4-0 victory over visiting Moorpark in a Tri-Valley League opener Wednesday.

It was the Eagles’ first match since the death of longtime Oak Park girls’ soccer Coach Bill Hoffman, who succumbed to cancer Monday.

First-half goals by Jen Frank and Jayme Blondi gave the Eagles a 2-0 cushion, but first-year Coach Scott Murray still was critical of his team’s play.

But after a stirring halftime pep talk by Murray, Oak Park dominated the second half. Frank and Blondi each scored their second goals and the Eagles (8-2-3) had several other scoring opportunities.

“It was the story of the year,” Murray said. “We had a thousand chances and finished only a few. We came out real flat. But in the second half, we worked on getting our midfielders more involved in the offense.”

Murray said he thought the death of Hoffman, 67, Oak Park’s coach for the previous 10 seasons, had an unsettling effect on the Eagles in the first 40 minutes. “They are all so young,” Murray said of his team, which includes five sophomores and a freshman, along with five seniors and five juniors. “It hit them like they really didn’t understand it. Just last weekend, we were writing Bill letters of encouragement.”

Frank scored in the opening minutes, but the rest of the half was played on equal terms until Blondi broke free in the 38th minute. Frank centered the ball to Blondi, who smacked her 22-yard shot off the left post and past goaltender Holly Scott.

Blondi, a junior who had not scored in the Eagles’ previous 13 games, scored her second goal midway through the second half. Jenny Jeppson brought the ball up the middle of the field and passed to Blondi, who rolled it past reserve goalie Rosanna Barrerra.

Frank capped the scoring in the 67th minute, taking a pass from Jeppson, dribbling past a defender and knocking the ball past Barrerra. It was the 16th goal of the season for Frank, a junior striker who had 22 goals last season.

Oak Park got outstanding play from midfielders Blondi, Jeppson and Kelly Grennan in the second half, making it difficult for Moorpark (3-6-1) to get the ball out of its end of the field.

When the Musketeers threatened, Oak Park sweeper Stephanie Warman broke up most attacks, making it easy for goalie Victoria Blint to pick up the shutout.

FORMER COACH DIES: Bill Hoffman, longtime girls’ soccer coach at Oak Park High, is dead of cancer at 67. C13