Edison, Nadler Blank Capistrano Valley

On the winning team there was a blue-haired midfielder and a goalkeeper who was egged on by fans who yelled “Nordstrom!” at her. On the losing team there was a bunch of superstars who had planned to waltz to the Southern Section Division I title.

But after Edison upset second-seeded Capistrano Valley, 2-0, Tuesday, in a second-round game at Edison, expectation had been turned on its ear.

Ali Nadler, Edison’s junior goalkeeper, played the best game of her 16-year-old life, saving 14 shots against the talented Cougar forwards.

And no one could have missed the play of Charger Loree Tamanaha, who challenged for loose balls and distributed well in the middle, but Tamanaha made sure by spraying her hair bright blue.

“It’s the one color nobody else has,” Tamanaha said.

Nadler said she had “big-time butterflies” before the game, but she played with nerves of steel.

“I knew a lot of it was depending on me because this is a good team and I knew they were going to take a lot of shots,” Nadler said.

Capistrano Valley dominated the first 25 minutes of both halves, maintaining possession and drumming shot after shot at Nadler. In the 55th minute, Nadler saved Edison’s 1-0 lead when she batted out a flurry of shots before finally taking a volley by Cougar Kim Abbamonto in the gut.

After Edison scored its second goal, on a chipped shot by Heidi Prestegard in the 71st minute, Nadler’s fans began to yell “Nordstrom!” to her, reminding her to take her time with the ball--to dawdle as if she were shopping--in order to wear time off the clock.

“Ali played awesome. She was solid,” said Edison Coach Kerry McGrath-Crooks. “Our defense finally came into their own.”

Edison’s defensive steadiness complemented its speed and skill up front with Prestegard, Lee Ann Morton and Kristina Furniss. In the 24th minute, Prestegard controlled the ball at midfield, dribbled toward the goal and passed it into space in the corner for Furniss, who scored the winning goal.

For Capistrano Valley, 19-3-3, the loss ended a season in which it was ranked No. 1 in the county and won the South Coast League title.

“We weren’t aggressive enough like we have been all year,” said Capistrano Valley Coach Hamid Sedehi.

Edison (14-9-2) will play Long Beach Poly in the quarterfinals Thursday at a site to be determined.

In other Division I playoff games:

Long Beach Poly 0, Esperanza 0 (Poly wins on penalty kicks, 4-3)--Esperanza outshot Long Beach Poly, 27-8. Tracy Sharp had six saves and posted her 13th shutout for Esperanza (19-5-4).

Los Alamitos 3, Colton 0--Cyndi Tredway, Nikki Szlak and Susan Palmer each scored first-half goals for third-seeded Los Alamitos (21-4-2), which advances to face Canyon Springs. Jenny Willemse recorded her 16th shutout in the goal for the Griffins.