ROUNDUP : Sunny Hills Leads League in Soccer

Before Thursday, Sunny Hills’ seniors had never beaten La Habra in a Freeway League girls’ soccer match.

It was the freshmen, however, who took center stage in the battle between the league’s unbeaten teams, and Sunny Hills edged La Habra, 2-1, Thursday at Sunny Hills High School.

Sunny Hills (12-1, 4-0 in league) moved into sole possession of first place in the Freeway League with its 12th consecutive victory.

With five minutes remaining and the score tied, 1-1, Sunny Hills freshman Kate Foster scored the game-winner on a header. After teammate Heidi Gugler’s header hit the crossbar, Foster headed the rebound over La Habra goalie Kam McMurtry into the upper right corner of the goal.

La Habra (10-2-3, 3-1) opened the scoring on freshman Amber Duarte’s goal one minute into the game.

Stacy Chung sent a perfect crossing pass in front of the goal to Duarte, who tapped it past Sunny Hills goalie Danielle Broschak for her 19th goal of the year.

“For some reason, we think we get an extra two minutes to warm up,” Sunny Hills’ Coach Kenn Gordon said.

Sunny Hills freshman Krista Ellefsen scored a goal with six minutes remaining in the first half to draw the Lancers even, 1-1.

Although the score was tied at halftime, Sunny Hills spent the majority of the half in La Habra’s end of the field. The Lancers outshot La Habra, 15-6, for the game, and wore down the Highlanders’ defense, anchored by returning first-team All-Southern Section fullback Sarah Mallett.