Griffins Knock Off Santa Margarita

The impressive collection of talent that was the Santa Margarita girls’ soccer team crumbled Thursday at the hands of a few players who decided that the Eagles were not all that grand.

Andrea Sievers scored the only goal to lead Los Alamitos to a 1-0 victory at Santa Margarita in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section Division I tournament.

The Eagles (23-2-3) were the county’s top-ranked team all season and the Griffins (13-4-4) were ranked sixth in the final poll.

“It was strictly a mental thing,” said Los Alamitos Coach Rich Manning, pointing out Santa Margarita’s 4-0 victory over Los Alamitos in the El Modena Vanguard Cup tournament in December. “If the girls, mentally, didn’t let that get to them, then I felt like we had a really good chance.”

Sievers, who has signed a letter of intent to attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, was a big reason for the Griffins’ success. A talented midfielder, Sievers controlled the game for Los Alamitos with many well-executed passes.

“At first, I wasn’t that confident but my team kept saying ‘We can do it,’ and I realized we could,” Sievers said.

Santa Margarita started off well with two good shots in the first 10 minutes, but then Los Alamitos began to settle down and take control.

In the 39th minute, Sievers trapped the ball at the sideline, made a move up the line, turned and blasted it toward the goal, where it slipped through the arms of Santa Margarita goalkeeper Riki-Ann Serrins.

“I just tried to cross it and it just happened to go in,” Sievers said.

For Santa Margarita players, a sense of urgency showed on their faces and in their play in the second half. The Eagles outshot the Griffins, 6-2, in the second half and threatened often but could not finish.

Santa Margarita had three dangerous free kicks and four corner kicks in the second half. Meagan Lingo, a strong midfielder, took six of those seven set pieces and placed them well, but the Eagles were whistled for fouls on four of them.

Three tenacious Los Alamitos defenders--Jenny Fergusen, Tricia Stough and Carrie Hawkins--continually frustrated Santa Margarita forwards Annie Luke and Kristen Rowe.

Los Alamitos will play Torrance (10-3-1) at a site to be determined in the semifinals on Tuesday.

In other Division I games:

Capistrano Valley 1, Upland 0--Freshman Chandra King dribbled the length of the field to score the winning goal in the 35th minute of the first half for Capistrano Valley.

Capistrano Valley plays Mission Viejo in the semifinals.

Mission Viejo 2, Palos Verdes Peninsula 1--Amber Skallerud scored her second goal in the 55th minute for Mission Viejo (17-6-2).

Torrance 1, Mater Dei 0--Katie Maxey scored in the fifth minute of the second half as Torrance defeated second-seeded Mater Dei (18-5-2). In Division II:

Canyon 2, Ocean View 0--Michelle Bannister scored in the 19th minute after intercepting a pass. Late in the first half, Bannister’s corner kick set up the Comanches next goal when A.J. Kula headed the ball to Kristen Thompson, who scored from six yards.

Canyon advances to play Santa Barbara in the semifinals Tuesday.

El Modena 5, Long Beach Poly 2--Kaylee Whitfield scored two goals and had an assist for El Modena (20-5-2), defeating the defending champions. El Modena will face fourth-seeded Alta Loma in the quarterfinals Saturday.