GIRLS’ SOCCER ROUNDUP : Stahlin Lifts Dana Hills Past Los Alamitos in Overtime, 1-0

Dana Hills freshman Jessica Stahlin spared girls’ soccer Coach Ken Ezratty a trip down nightmare lane during a Southern Section Division 4-A wild-card match Wednesday.

Stahlin, who finished the regular season with 14 goals, scored in the 13th minute of overtime on Jolene Innis’ assist to lift the Dolphins to a 1-0 victory over host Los Alamitos.

Last season, after Esperanza and Dana Hills battled to a 1-1 tie, Esperanza advanced by beating the Dolphins in a penalty-kick shootout.

“I think we outshot Esperanza 23-2 or something and we totally outplayed them,” Ezratty said. “And to lose it in a shootout . . .

“I didn’t think about (last year) until this game was actually over,” he said. “But we were leading 1-0 again and it was another Empire League team . . . “

Los Alamitos (13-5-2), runner-up in the league to Esperanza, kept close on the goaltending of Kathy Skoglund, who had eight of her 12 saves in the first half.

Typical of the Dolphins’ first-half offense was Melissa Miller’s perfect crossing pass to Stahlin, but she shot wide of the open net with two minutes remaining.

Dana Hills (16-8-3) advances to face Sunset League champion Edison (16-4-6) in a first-round match Friday at Edison.

“We lost to them, 3-1, earlier this season,” Ezratty said. “But we’ve only lost to teams in the (Southern Section ranked in the) top five, like El Toro, Mission Viejo, Edison, and we feel we’re competitive with anyone.”