Besides 3-A Title, Torrance Has Another Goal in Mind

The unbeaten Torrance High girls’ soccer team, the defending Southern Section 3-A Division champion, will have a chance to set another section record when it meets unbeaten Arcadia in the 3-A championship game at 2 p.m. Saturday at Gahr High in Cerritos.

Although the Tartars (30-0) were denied their 18th consecutive shutout in a 3-1 victory over La Canada on Tuesday, they can still set a section record for fewest goals allowed in a season. The record, set by La Serna of Whittier in 1988-89, is four. Torrance, which has 28 shutouts this season, has given up only two.

Foothill League champion Arcadia (26-0) defeated Millikan, 2-0, on Tuesday. The Lady Apaches will be making their third appearance in 10 years in a division final. They lost in 1983 to Simi Valley and in 1986 to Bishop Montgomery.

Junior left wing Michele Kennedy, an All-Southern Section selection last season, is Arcadia’s leading scorer with 47 goals, including seven in four playoff games.

Arcadia Coach Charles Witkofsky, in his 12th season, said Kennedy could have scored more goals if he had allowed the Apaches to run up the score against weaker opponents.

“She had games where she probably could have scored 10 goals,” he said. “I just don’t do that kind of thing. I’ve probably cost some of my players some scholarships.”

Senior midfielder Jessica Reifer, who will attend the University of Hartford in the fall, leads Torrance with 30 goals.

The Tartars will attempt to stop Kennedy with a defense led by sweeper Kim Blankinship and goalkeeper Jennifer Halladay, who has been in goal for all 28 shutouts. The Tartars’ section record for consecutive shutouts would have reached 18 on Tuesday if not for a goal that Torrance inadvertently kicked into its own net.

As the ball bounced toward the Torrance goal, defender Wendy Nakashima, Blankinship and Halladay converged. Nakashima kicked the ball toward Halladay and she redirected it away from the goal. But the ball bounced off Blankinship’s shin and rolled 15 yards into the goal.

“It’s the first goal that I have scored all season,” Blankinship said.