On Ropes, La Canada Throws KO Punch

Under siege Saturday, La Canada High hunkered down and held its ground, waiting for offensive chances of its own.

When those few opportunities appeared, the Spartans made them count and upset Crescenta Valley, 2-1, on a sudden-death overtime goal by Lynne Bahrami in a Southern Section Division II girls’ soccer playoff game at Crescenta Valley High.

Outshot, 29-4, La Canada nevertheless advanced to Tuesday’s second round on the strength of a second-half goal by Shannon Smith and the game-winner by Bahrami in the 114th minute.

“It was just defense and hard work,” said Smith, a senior sweeper who anchored the Spartans’ back line along with freshman stopper Tyraysha Peterson. “We just had to stay composed, go after the ball hard and get a goal. It took a lot of concentration the whole game.”

Crescenta Valley (17-4-3), ranked third in the division’s final coaches’ poll, had a 1-0 halftime lead after outshooting La Canada, 11-0, and rarely letting the ball out of the Spartans’ end of the field.

The Falcons scored in the 19th minute when junior striker Stephanie Rigamat took a pass from Michele Cena and scored from 10 yards for her 39th goal.

Powered by midfielders Cena and Heidi Greco, Crescenta Valley had numerous other scoring chances in the first and second halves, but either misfired or was denied by La Canada’s standout freshman goalkeeper, Lauren Arase, who made 19 saves.

In the 52nd minute, the Spartans (13-2-5) made good on their first shot of the game when Smith’s 25-yard free kick deflected off a defender in a Falcon wall and into the net.

“It was a fluke; I just tried to power a shot to the goal,” Smith said. “Luck was on our side.”

As the game wore on into overtime, fatigue hit the Falcons and the ball was on their side of the field more and more often.

The decisive play came suddenly and with some controversy.

La Canada’s Diana Collins emerged from a scramble in front of Crescenta Valley’s goal and passed to Bahrami, whose shot found the left side of the goal.

Crescenta Valley protested to no avail that Collins fouled by touching the ball with her hand.

“To lose it on a non-call like that is unjust,” Falcon Coach Judd Bogust said. “But we didn’t finish our chances and we can only blame ourselves for that.”