Torrance High Girls Make Something Out of Nothing : Soccer: Tartars set Southern Section record with their 16th consecutive shutout in 1-0 victory over Long Beach Poly.

When is a 1-0 lead in a soccer game insurmountable?

When the team holding the lead is the Torrance High girls.

The Tartars, seeded first in the 3-A Division playoffs, set a Southern Section record with their 16th consecutive shutout in a 1-0 victory over Long Beach Poly on Wednesday afternoon.

La Serna of Whittier previously held the record, set during the 1988-89 season.

Left wing Gwen Nakashima scored Torrance’s goal in the third minute of the first half when she tapped in a rebound off a Jessica Reifer shot. Reifer’s shot initially had been deflected off the crossbar by Poly goalkeeper Marcy Barton.

Torrance had numerous opportunities to add to the lead, but Barton kept Poly in the game.

Torrance (28-0), the defending Southern Section champion, will play Santa Barbara in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Poly Coach Rob Piggot was impressed with Torrance.

“Without a doubt, they are an outstanding team,” Piggot said. “They are far better than anyone that we played all season. For us to come away with a 1-0 score line is a credit to our defense.

“As a coach, I was looking for any weakness in their play and I couldn’t see one. They’ve all got speed and they do the little tricks that you can only do if you’ve played together for a long time.”

Torrance sweeper Kim Blankinship and defender Wendy Nakashima controlled the play when the ball entered the Tartars’ side of the field. Goalkeeper Jennifer Halladay, who has 27 shutouts this season, was rarely tested.

Coach John Jackson said the low-scoring game would benefit Torrance in the playoffs.

“It’s good to have these kind of games,” Jackson said. “The last game (a 8-0 victory against Laguna Hills) was too much of a blowout.”

Jackson said the players were aware of the consecutive-shutout record.

“They know about the records and this is the one they really wanted,” he said. “They would give away all the records if it meant that they could repeat (as Southern Section champions). But we’d like to have the records too.”

El Modena 1, South Torrance 0--Sophomore Kristy Hales volleyed a loose ball past goalie Heidi Emmrichs with three minutes remaining in sudden death to give the Vanguards the victory in a Southern Section 3-A game at El Modena.

Hales’ goal came in the 117th minute after 80 minutes of regulation play, 20 minutes of overtime and 16 minutes of sudden death.

The teams had battled to a 1-1 tie in regulation.

Shannon Boxx scored for South Torrance (15-7-1) two minutes into the second half. Boxx scored from 20 yards on the right wing, beating goalie Amy Moreno with a shot into the upper left corner of the net.

Moreno moved to the front line and scored on a penalty kick with nine minutes remaining in regulation to tie the score.

South Torrance outshot El Modena, 29-13