Los Alamitos Fights Back, 2-1

Trailing by a goal at halftime of a Southern Section Division I girls’ soccer semifinal against Sunset League-rival Edison, Los Alamitos Coach Rich Manning addressed his huddled team:

“I love this,” he said. “We’re right where we want to be.”

Riding a slight wind that was at their backs, the Griffins knocked in two goals in the second half to beat Edison, 2-1, at Los Alamitos and return to the Division I final for the second consecutive season.

“I thought we just mentally were very tough,” Manning said. “This team loves adversity and they got it today.”

Los Alamitos, which won the Sunset League, was undefeated with league victories over third-place Edison by scores of 2-0 and 2-1.

In last season’s Division I championship game against Mission Viejo, Los Alamitos came away with an unsatisfying tie.

“We want to win it all this year,” Los Alamitos’ Brittany Savelkoul said.

The Chargers nearly dashed that hope.

“Edison did a great job of controlling our passing game and they swarmed to the ball very well,” Manning said.

Edison had many opportunities on goal and never allowed Los Alamitos to get into much of a rhythm. But the Griffins, 23-4-2 overall, never appeared to get frustrated.

Los Alamitos began to attack more aggressively at the start of the second half and scored after a corner kick by Niki Szlak in the 61st minute. Szlak sent the ball to the far post, where Savelkoul volleyed it back to the right corner of the net.

“I think we play harder if we’re down a goal. We fight right back,” Savelkoul said.

Savelkoul assisted on the game-winner about nine minutes later, crossing the ball on the ground in front of the goal to Cyndi Tredway, who scored.

Savelkoul, a junior, was a bundle of nerves in the first half, when Manning substituted for her to give her a break. She played with much more composure in the second half.

“I just needed to relax and play my game,” she said.

Jenny Willemse, a junior who began playing goalkeeper near the end of last season, was a pillar of composure for the Griffins with 10 saves.

“She’s a very good keeper. We knew we’d have to keep the ball away from her to score. She’s good in the air,” Edison Coach Kerry McGrath-Crooks said.

Edison (16-10-2) scored in the 26th minute after a shot by Annie Benington ricocheted off teammate Loree Tamanaha and into the goal. For Edison, which lost in the first round of playoffs last year, the game brought an end to a season in which the Chargers made dramatic improvements.

“We just started making a gradual climb at the end of the season. That’s the way teams are supposed to be,” McGrath-Crooks said. “They were fighting to the end.”

In Division II:

Santa Margarita 1, Ventura Buena 0--Casey Hamel’s free kick from 50 yards out was held up in a stiff wind and then headed into the net by Maresa Zanetti nine minutes before the first half. Santa Margarita (18-1-3) will play Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, which beat Norco, 2-0, in the final.