SOUTHERN SECTION GIRLS’ SOCCER ROUNDUP : El Modena Outlasts Alta Loma in Overtime, 1-0

Tino Younger, the El Modena girls’ soccer coach, was dripping wet and muddy from head to foot, and he couldn’t care less.

Younger figured his players had stayed on the field for 117 minutes, so he could take a brief plunge in the mud puddles on the El Modena field after Tuesday’s playoff game.

After all, Younger had just watched the Vanguards defeat Alta Loma, 1-0, in sudden death, to advance to the Division II quarterfinals Thursday against Arcadia. El Modena (16-4-3) also defeated La Habra in sudden death in the first round.

“After the first overtime (half), I told my players if we won today, I would go dive in the biggest water hole they wanted,” Younger said. “They said, ‘No, no. We want you to dive in the mud.’ ”

And that’s exactly what Younger did after the obligatory hand shakes with Alta Loma (20-2-3) were over.

Moments before, freshman Kaylee Whitfield had booted a shot from 20 yards out that sailed over the outstretched arms of Alta Loma goalkeeper Jennifer Rodriguez and into the net. “I told Kaylee at the start of sudden death, ‘You are going to finish this for us--your goal is going in,’ ” Younger said.

Whitfield, the team’s second-leading scorer with 10 goals, was pretty confident her shot would result in a goal.

“It felt like it was going,” she said. “I just kicked it and prayed and it went in.”

The teams had trouble with the field conditions, as large puddles nearly covered the area in front of one goal.

El Modena goalkeeper Amy Moreno, who had 16 saves in her 12th shutout of the season, came out several times to make saves in those puddles.

“Younger told me to go down with my hands down and just try to scoop the ball up,” Moreno said. “I’m happy we won the game, but I just hope we don’t go into overtime again. I don’t know if I can handle it.”

In other Division II games:

Estancia 2, Redondo Beach 1 (sudden death)--Holly Ferguson scored off Joilyn Rusick’s assist three minutes into the first sudden-death period to lead visiting Estancia (18-5-3). Rebecca Satin scored a first-half goal for the Eagles, who will play Sunny Hills, a 3-0 winner over La Canada, in the quarterfinals Thursday.

Sunny Hills 3, La Canada 0--Jamie Gardiner scored two goals and Jenny Cunningham had one for Sunny Hills (19-2-2). La Canada finished 15-4-3.

Kennedy 2, Ontario Chaffey 0--Lori Van Herk and Heather Darin each scored for visiting Kennedy (17-2-3), which advanced to Thursday’s quarterfinals to play Canyon. Chaffey ends 16-9-1.

Los Alamitos 2, Manhattan Beach Mira Costa 1 (OT)--Liz Willemse scored with two minutes left in overtime for Los Alamitos (17-3-2). Katie Ryan scored the other goal for Los Alamitos, which will play Torrance Bishop Montgomery, a 2-0 winner over Santa Barbara, in the quarterfinals.