HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIPS : Harvard Girls Wear Down in Overtime, 1-0

Harvard-Westlake High goalie Cari Schwartz turned back Pasadena Poly attackers repeatedly Saturday afternoon during the girls’ Southern Section 1-A Division soccer championship match.

But less than five minutes into the first of two 10-minute overtime periods, forward Kim Rakow headed the ball out of Schwartz’s reach to lead defending champion Pasadena Poly to a 1-0 victory before 300 at Gahr High in Cerritos.

Schwartz, a three-year starter, finished with 10 saves, three of them spectacular.

“When a team is in your penalty box for so much time,” Schwartz said, “and the pressure is on, you worry and wonder how much pressure can (we) actually absorb, and how many shots can (we) keep stopping.”

There was no stopping one particular shot. After driving down the right side of the field, senior forward Jamie Hahn centered the ball from the right corner to Rakow, who was positioned between a defender and the goalie just eight yards in front of the goal. Rakow, who had been turned away by Schwartz less than two minutes earlier on a similar attack, headed the ball into the upper-right corner, over the outstretched arms of Schwartz.

“I had my hands up, but I was nowhere near it,” Schwartz said. “I could not have gotten it. It was a great ball.”

Westlake Coach Michael Osborne agreed. “There wasn’t a lot she could do,” he said. “They had been banging at the goal all day, and then came up with a good goal.”

The teams were no strangers, the Wolverines (14-1-4) having defeated Poly, 3-2, on penalty kicks in the El Segundo tournament.

Westlake junior midfielder Alyze Lowen, a member of the U. S. Junior National team who scored a team-high 28 goals, said the defense of Pasadena Poly (21-2-3) was the toughest the Wolverines had faced.

“We didn’t play as offensively as we would have liked to,” Lowen said. “They really stopped us going down the middle and we couldn’t penetrate on the wings.”