SOUTH COAST LEAGUE GIRLS’ SOCCER : Capistrano Valley Upsets Top-Ranked El Toro, 1-0

Kerry Krause, the coach of top-ranked El Toro, saw it one way.

Capistrano Valley Coach Harry Hutcheson saw it another.

Either way, fourth-ranked Capistrano Valley came away with a 1-0 upset of El Toro in a South Coast League girls’ soccer game Thursday at El Toro High.

What did the coaches see differently?

How the game was won.

Hutcheson figured it was because his team, which entered the game tied for first in league with El Toro, played better defense. Krause attributed the loss to his team’s sub-par play and missed opportunities.

Both were correct. Capistrano Valley played a tighter game than it did when the teams met in the second game of the league season and El Toro won, 3-1. And El Toro didn’t play like it did it the it the their first league meeting or when the Chargers defeated the Cougars, 1-0, in the Foothill Excalibur tournament in December.

Thursday’s victory moved Capistrano Valley (18-4-2, 6-2) into first place with two games remaining. The loss ended El Toro’s 29-game league unbeaten streak and dropped the Chargers (14-2-3, 4-1-2), who have three games to play, into second place. Capistrano Valley and Dana Hills are the only teams to defeat the Chargers in league play in the last four seasons.

“I’m elated, right now,” Hutcheson said. “This is what we wanted to do. I told the girls before the game, ‘If we win this one, we win league.’ ”

That wasn’t exactly what forward Kim McKay was thinking when she scored the winning goal with 14 minutes left. McKay followed teammate Lindsay Light’s shot, which was stopped by El Toro goalkeeper Traci Jensen and then bounced out of Jensen’s hands.

“I panicked,” said McKay, who scored two goals in Tuesday’s 3-0 victory over San Clemente. “I just shot to shoot. We always follow our shots up and I got it.”

El Toro had chances in the closing minutes, taking seven late shots. With four minutes left, Jenny Clabaugh drew Capistrano Valley goalkeeper Sumon Nicole out, and midfielder Julie Bargiel misstepped, sending the ball left of the goal. Nicole had 13 saves.

“We played poorly, I’ll tell you that,” Krause said. “I think we have to light a fire under ourselves, but I believe we can still win league.”

Hutcheson, a first-year coach who assisted the boys’ team for eight years and played at Capistrano Valley before that, said he would have been happy with a tie.

“I’ve coached eight years,” he said. “For me, this is probably one of the bigger games to win.

“It was a big win for the girls. I could see it in their faces on the field after the game.”

In other league games:

Dana Hills 2, Mater Dei 1--Jessica Stahlin and Diane Divino scored for Dana Hills (16-6-3, 3-2-2). Amber Escobedo scored for Mater Dei (12-6-4, 3-2-2).

Mission Viejo 2, San Clemente 0--Maggie Terry and Erinn Tilley each scored first-half goals for host Mission Viejo (7-9-4, 3-5). San Clemente is 0-8 in the league.