GIRLS’ SOCCER PREVIEW : She Wants Another Shot at El Toro

By the time Jill Florey started her first soccer season at Mission Viejo High School, the Diablos had just about done it all. They had a record unbeaten streak and were seeking their fourth consecutive Division 4-A title.

But the Diablos’ run ended in Florey’s freshman season and Mission Viejo has been replaced by El Toro as the dominant team in the Southern Section and South Coast League. The downfall may have started when El Toro ended the Diablos’ 84-match unbeaten string, then a national record.

“It has been intimidating . . . frustrating,” Florey said. “My freshman year we had a streak of 80-something wins and they beat us, and ever since then it’s been hard to play with them. We just want to get them back.”

Mission Viejo finally got a bit of revenge this season, tying El Toro twice and sharing the league title with the Chargers. El Toro won a coin flip and entered the playoffs as the league’s No. 1 representative. Mission Viejo defeated Ocean View, 2-0, Wednesday in a wild-card match and will play on Friday at Corona del Mar.

El Toro, which opens the playoffs at home against Loara, and could face Mission Viejo again in the championship match.

That would be fine with Florey, who plays with several of El Toro’s players on the club soccer team, Mission Viejo Wildfire.

Because of the strong club program in the area, Mission Viejo has usually had one of the most talented teams in the South Coast League. But until this season, the Diablos hadn’t lived up to expectations.

Some, it seems, even wrote off Mission Viejo. In the preseason Division 4-A coaches’ poll, the Diablos weren’t even ranked. Florey, a captain, and her team took it as a snub.

“That didn’t make us feel too good, and we said we were going to prove them wrong, and I think we did,” Florey said.

“We were never as close as we are this year. I think that’s what’s going to do it for us this year if we do well in the playoffs, because we’ve got such a good family.”

Mission Viejo Coach Jim Dutton says Florey’s aggressiveness has helped her become one of the best forwards in the section.

“If she sees the opportunity to go nose-to-nose, one-on-one and beat somebody and put it in the net, that’s what she’ll try to do,” Dutton said. “But if she knows she can’t do it, then she doesn’t mind laying it off to somebody, maybe getting an assist or at least give someone else the opportunity.”

Florey, who has signed a letter of intent to attend Portland on a soccer scholarship, led the South Coast League in scoring with 36 goals in the regular season.

But she doesn’t always have the killer instinct for scoring, as was evident when she passed up a chance at a fourth goal in a recent match.

“I don’t need to score anymore,” Florey said. “I’d rather have my teammates score and get their stats up. I’ve done enough damage to the other team, why rub it in?”

Canyon’s Kim Campbell, believed to be Orange County’s leading scorer with 46 goals this season, has scored 85 in her career. Campbell, a junior, led the county in scoring with 36 her freshman season and scored three goals in the Comanches’ first match last season, but she suffered a season-ending knee injury in the second match.

“She was kind of a question mark going into the season because I didn’t know how strong she would be after her injury,” Canyon Coach John Williams said. “But it became obvious that she was 100%. She was as strong as she was as a freshman and she may have even had a few more moves.”

Canyon (16-5-2) plays host to Riverside Poly (15-5-1) in a 3-A first-round match Friday.

Girls’ Soccer at a Glance

Defending champions: Division 4-A--El Toro; 3-A--Torrance; 2-A--Etiwanda; 1-A--Pasadena Poly.

Top teams: 4-A--Simi Valley (22-1), El Toro (21-2-2), Edison (16-4-6), Corona del Mar (10-5-4), Mission Viejo (19-7-3); 3-A--Torrance (27-0), Arcadia (22-0), Trabuco Hills (21-2-3), Torrance Bishop Montgomery (14-4-2); 2-A--Whittier La Serna (16-1-2), Hacienda Heights Los Altos (20-1-1); 1-A--Pasadena Poly (17-2-3), Harvard-Westlake (11-0-4).

Top players: 4-A--Traci Arkenberg (Rolling Hills Estates Peninsula), Erin Bailey (Edison), Lisa Boatman (Corona del Mar), Staci Bumstead (Esperanza), Shannon deAvila (El Toro), Kim Donohue (Mater Dei), Jill Florey (Mission Viejo), Amy Hunter (Simi Valley), Denise Kenyon (El Toro), Anna Klein (Loara), Amy Peterson (Marina), Christine Tyler (Edison), Katie Ward (Mater Dei). 3-A--Kim Campbell (Canyon), Rozanne Domingues (Redlands), Amber Duarte (La Habra), Heidi Gugler (Sunny Hills), Michele Kennedy (Arcadia), Christy Lunceford (Trabuco Hills), Sara Mallett (La Habra), Erin Martin (Temple City), Gwen Nakashima (Torrance), Jessica Reifer (Torrance), Lindsay Rogers (Trabuco Hills), Claudia Ruggiero (Estancia), Molly Schulman (El Modena), Danielle Straub (Estancia), Lori Van Herk (Kennedy). 2-A--Wendy Dailey (Los Altos), Karen Ferrier (Brea-Olinda), Jacquei Jarvis (Corona Centennial), Naomi Low (Ontario Chaffey), Vanessa Macen (Oxnard Santa Clara), Erin Rico (Norco), Tina Thompson (Canyon), Lena Trevino (Valencia). 1-A--Jennifer Giampaolo (Pasadena Poly), Alyze Lowen (Harvard-Westlake), Courtney Wolfchief (Chino Ayala), Kristina Riedmann (Orange Lutheran).

Notes: 4-A--El Toro, which defeated Simi Valley, 3-1, in the 4-A title match last season, is the only team to beat the top-ranked Pioneers this season. The Pioneers have only allowed four goals in 23 matches and shut out 19 opponents. 3-A--Torrance has shut out 24 of its 27 opponents, breaking Laguna Hills’ Southern Section record of 23 in the 1986-87 season. Martin has 81 goals this season and 203 for her career, putting her second to Carin Jennings of Palos Verdes (225) on the all-time Southern Section scoring list. 2-A--The Orange League teams--Western (13-7-2), Valencia (7-6-7) and Brea-Olinda (6-8-6)--are the only Orange County teams in the division, which opens play today. 1--A--Orange Lutheran (9-6-3), which finished third in the Olympic League, is the only county team in the division.