Quartz Hill’s Cox Has Impact on Another Field

In an oddly-phrased request to get his Valencia High girls’ soccer team to play man-to-man defense Wednesday, Coach Dudley Hitchman frequently bellowed “Basketball! Bas-ket-ball!” from the sidelines.

In the end, however, Hitchman and the Vikings were upended in the Southern Section Division I wild-card game by an opponent best known for her softball savvy.

Quartz Hill’s Jodie Cox, a junior and two-time member of The Times’ All-Valley softball team, had a goal and two assists to lift the Rebels to a 3-2 victory and a berth in the first round Saturday against Crescenta Valley.

Playing stopper, Cox’s heroics made up for a gaffe she committed midway through the second half and allowed Valencia (17-9-1) a goal and a 2-1 lead.

In response, she knocked in a 40-yard free kick four minutes later to tie the game, then assisted on Julie Gold’s winner with six minutes to play.

Quartz Hill (16-4-2), the Golden League champion, took a 1-0 lead 12 minutes into the game when Cox’s 30-yard free kick found teammate Shauna Murray cutting across the penalty area. Moving right, Murray knocked the ball back left and into the goal.

The Vikings forged a 1-1 halftime tie six minutes before the break when Quartz Hill goalkeeper Christa Galier attempted to punch away a 25-yard flip throw by Devin McLean but knocked the ball into the goal.

In the 65th minute, Cox raced back to the edge of the Rebel penalty area to clear a bouncing ball but missed completely and fell.

Valencia’s Heather Zubis pounced on the turnover and was hauled down in the box by Shannon Alleman, resulting in a penalty shot that Viking goalkeeper Kori Volkmann converted after trotting the length of the field.

“After that I knew I had to do something both for myself and the team,” Cox said.

In the 69th minute, Cox lined up a 40-yard free kick. Designated “indirect” by the referee, it had to touch another player after Cox before it could enter the net and count as a goal.

That player, the referee ruled, was Volkmann, who made a futile backward dive as the ball dropped over her and into the net. The Vikings protested that Volkmann never touched the ball.

“I think the ref robbed us,” Zubis said.

In any case, Quartz Hill had regained its first-half momentum. In the 74th minute, Gold received a long pass from Cox down the center of the field and scored the deciding goal from 10 yards.

In other girls’ Southern Section wild-card games:

Thousand Oaks 5, Highland 1--Susan Shivokevich scored twice to help the host Lancers (12-7-2) advance to face No. 2 seed Peninsula (22-1-4) in a Division I first-round game Saturday.

Canyon 2, Moorpark 0--Gentry Green scored in the 63rd and 65th minutes, boosting the Cowboys (9-4-6) into a first-round game Saturday against Mater Dei, the No. 4 seed in Division II.

Bishop Union 4, Village Christian 1--Tracy Sayers had her 30th goal for Village Christian (6-13-1) in the Division IV game.

In a boys’ wild-card game:

Simi Valley 1, Santa Maria 0--Chris Harris scored 11 minutes into overtime for the host Pioneers (15-7-2), advancing them to a first-round game Friday at Loyola, the No. 3 seed in Division I.