Santa Margarita Flips for Aylor : Sophomore’s Tumbling Throw-In Move Is a Winner for the Eagles

To unsuspecting spectators, it was to be a simple throw-in during the Santa Margarita-Mission Viejo girls’ soccer game.

They saw Santa Margarita sophomore Ami Aylor take several steps back from the sideline and then witnessed the unexpected:

Aylor took a quick heels-over-head tumbling run and heaved the ball some 40 yards to the front of the Mission Viejo goal. The Eagles weren’t able to score but those watching were abuzz.

How’d she do that?

Is that the catapult technique?

Sweet. That was sweet.

Call it what you want. Call it Mary Lou Retton meets Pele. But Aylor says it’s not such a big deal.

“Honestly and truly, it’s not hard to do,” Aylor said. “It looks hard but it’s not.”

It’s definitely rare. Aylor said she has seen several other girls try it in club games, and Rob Johnson of Rutgers did it in the NCAA Division I final four.

“The only reason I do it is because I get so much more power than I do when I throw it regularly,” Aylor said. “It’s not to get attention, although it does draw attention.”

More importantly for Santa Margarita, it’s a serious offensive weapon.

“Any time we’re past the half-field mark, she can put the ball in the box,” Santa Margarita Coach Chuck Morales said. “That’s immense.”

Morales said when she flips, Aylor can throw farther than most boys.

“Guys have such upper-body strength that they can heave the ball,” Morales said. “With her it’s physics--because of her flip, she launches the ball.”

That’s handy because these days Santa Margarita is in need of a lift.

The Eagles, expected to be one of the top teams in Orange County, have been hurt by injuries. Two weeks ago, three defensive standouts were knocked out of a game with Mater Dei.

First, the game was stopped for about 20 minutes after goalkeeper Riki-Ann Serrins and defensive midfielder Meagan Lingo collided while going for the ball. Serrins suffered a broken upper jawbone and had several front teeth knocked out; Lingo was cut on the forehead by Serrins’ teeth. Serrins, who is goalkeeper for the 16-and-under regional Olympic development team, is expected to be out eight weeks; Lingo about four.

Later in the Mater Dei game, sweeper Beth Brown tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her knee and is out for the season.

Crushing blows, but Morales says Aylor’s presence is helping the Eagles get through the tough times, and not only because she can do somersaults.

Aylor, who twisted an ankle Saturday in the Eagles’ 2-1 victory over Encinitas San Dieguito, keeps the team focused on the positive with her upbeat personality. “She helps people stay light and loose,” Morales said. “She’s got a smile on her face all the time and that’s important.”

On the field, she’s one of the Eagles’ fastest players. She plays outside halfback and her runs down the sideline are dangerous to opposing defenses.

But it’s the throw-ins--Morales calls them “instant offense”--that are the attention-grabbers.

Aylor said she taught the technique to herself about six years ago after her older brother Jeff told her about seeing someone do it during a game on television.

Aylor, who was a gymnast before she played soccer, said it took her about 15 minutes to figure out how to do it, but much longer to learn to control the throws.

“Sometimes I would release too early and the ball would go straight up,” she said.

She honed the flip throw in AYSO and club games--when referees would allow her to do it--and even scored a couple goals when confused opponents deflected the ball into the net.

Some referees wouldn’t allow the flip, fearing she would injure herself, and in fact last spring she dislocated her shoulder when the ball slipped on wet grass during a flip.

But she hasn’t been reined in in any high school games, and although Aylor no longer flips on wet grass, she appears to have no fear of falling.

“I guess I am a thrill-seeker,” said Aylor, who has had two assists on throw-ins this season. “I like challenges and throwing in the ball is a challenge for me because I’m trying to get it to go farther and farther.”