Ninth-Ranked El Toro Girls Deliver Message to Canyon

Riding high after upsetting third-ranked Santa Margarita on Tuesday, the Canyon girls’ soccer team was brought back to earth by El Toro on Thursday, as the ninth-ranked Chargers defeated the Comanches, 4-1, in nonleague play at Canyon.

El Toro (2-0) was playing without two key starters, goalkeeper Melody Derloshon, who is out for at least a week because of a knee injury, and center Christina Phelps, out because of a sprained ankle. But the Chargers had no problems handling Canyon.

Junior Lauren Orlandos controlled the midfield for the Chargers, keeping the ball on Canyon’s side of the field for the majority of the game. Orlandos also gave El Toro its first goal six minutes into the game, when she angled a penalty kick past diving goalkeeper Heather Williams.

“Orlandos is definitely a key to our team,” said El Toro Coach Kevin Otsuji. “She controls the game for us.”

Orlandos got involved on the Chargers’ next goal when she sailed a direct kick in front of the goal for senior forward Jaimi Doddridge, who made a spectacular play--down on her hands and knees, she headed the ball into the corner of the net, just sliding it by Williams and giving El Toro a 2-0 halftime lead.

The Chargers came out pressing in the second half and freshman midfielder Nicole Imech gave her team a 3-0 lead nine minutes in, knocking in a rebound off a save by Williams.

Williams finished with seven saves.

El Toro put the game out of reach when senior forward Melissa Dippel went one-on-one with reserve goalkeeper Jennifer Monson and squeezed the ball into the corner of the goal with seven minutes left.

Canyon’s only goal of the game came with 20 minutes remaining, when a shot by Rachelle Locke hit the crossbar and bounced just inside the goal line before Maag knocked it back out.