ROUNDUP : Unranked Esperanza Ties No. 1 Marina

Unranked Esperanza gave No. 1 Marina its first blemish of the season, tying the Vikings, 1-1, Tuesday in a Sunset League girls’ soccer game at Esperanza.

The tie ended a 20-game winning streak for Marina (9-0-1, 1-0-1), but the Vikings extended their unbeaten streak to 48.

Esperanza nearly handed Marina its first loss since the 1992-93 season, but Marcy Crouch scored on a shot from 35 yards midway through the second half.

Aztec goalkeeper Tracy Sharp, a sophomore brought up from the junior varsity because of her height (5 feet 10), had 20 saves in her first varsity start.

Esperanza (10-4-3, 0-1-1), which had five starters out with injuries, took a 1-0 lead in the 37th minute on Kim Gallo’s goal off a corner kick from Jami Bumstead.

Marina, which was tied by Fountain Valley in its third league game last season, played without co-leading scorer Kristen Palmer because the officials deemed her knee brace unsafe for play.

In another Sunset League game:

Fountain Valley 2, Los Alamitos 2--Amber Miller tied the score with 20 minutes left for seventh-ranked Fountain Valley (13-1-3, 1-0-1), which trailed, 2-0, at the half. Cindy Tredway scored two first-half goals for No. 4 Los Alamitos (10-3-2, 0-1-1).

In the South Coast League:

Dana Hills 2, Capistrano Valley 1--Playing its first league game after three rainouts, Capistrano Valley came up short in the mud against No. 9 Dana Hills.

The field was chopped up and muddy and the game was almost postponed, according to Dana Hills Coach Kelly Seibert. But Dana Hills (8-3-2, 1-1) already has two make-up games scheduled and Seibert didn’t want another one.

“It (the mud) definitely tired us out,” Seibert said. “The girls complained that they couldn’t run and it was hard to pick their legs up. It looks like this season will come down to who can play the best in the mud.”

Tuesday, it was the Dolphins.

Dana Hills took a 1-0 lead, when sophomore Andrea Warner squeezed the ball into the left corner beyond Cougar goalkeeper Shawna Draper eight minutes into the game.

Capistrano Valley (11-5-1, 0-1) came back with 12 minutes left in the half and tied the score, when sophomore Liz Delgado sailed the ball off the fingertips of Dolphin goalkeeper Sumon Nicole.

In the second half, Warner sent a perfect pass to sophomore Carrie Blodgett who drilled it into the goal 22 minutes into the half.