DIVISION I GIRLS’ SOCCER : Mater Dei Capitalizes on Errors

Judgmental and tactical errors by Edison helped give Mater Dei a 2-0 victory over the Chargers in a Southern Section Division I girls’ soccer quarterfinal Thursday at Mater Dei.

With the sun in their eyes and the wind in their faces for the first half, the Chargers dribbled the ball when they should have cleared it, turned their backs on balls that needed to be headed and seemed to be waiting for someone to step in and take over.

Edison missed nine shots that were one-on-one situations with goalkeeper Amanda Fox or facing an open net.

Mater Dei’s two goals were scored by sophomore forward Trisha Steiner. Four minutes into the game, defender Corinne Di Luigi’s kick bounced off goalkeeper Jocelyn Polen’s fingertips, and Steiner made the ball go in more quickly with a tap.

With 10 minutes left in the half, Steiner took a long pass from Chrissy Whalen and curved the ball just out of Polen’s reach.

The Chargers (22-5-3) took 14 second-half shots on Fox, but could not find the goal. They kicked the ball behind, over and around the net, and headed the ball over the goal four times.

And Mater Dei’s field, which some call the “cow pasture,” was no help. It is lumpy, bumpy, uneven and patchy. But the Monarchs (20-5-1) like it.

“We’ve lost one game in the last two years on our home field,” Monarch Coach Michelle Myers said. “We knew if we got (Edison) here we could beat them.”

Edison Coach Kerry McGrath was frustrated. “We figured the field would play a big part--we’re a big passing team, but this field really (stinks).

“We couldn’t get our passing game down--not for lack of trying, but you can’t do it if the ball won’t stay on the ground.”

Mater Dei faces Marina on Tuesday in a semifinal. Myers said the team’s job will not be easy. “We’re going to have to mark their big guns, but like Edison, they have a lot of weapons.”

But the field, which will be determined by coin flip, will not be a problem, at least for the Monarchs.

“It will be interesting to see where we play, but we like their field,” Myers said. “It’s short, like ours, and a short field is more to our style.”