Westlake Beats Ventura to End Playoff Drought

The Westlake High girls’ soccer team sought to end a stretch of playoff frustration Saturday against visiting Ventura in a Division II first-round game.

In each of the previous three seasons, the Warriors lost their first playoff game. But led by the central midfield tandem of Naomi Chu and Tasha Spangler, Westlake downed the Cougars, 2-0.

The Warriors advance to the second round Tuesday against Mater Dei, the division’s fourth-seeded team, at a site to be determined by a coin flip. The Monarchs beat Westlake in a 1995 first-round game.

Ventura, which advanced to the quarterfinals in 1995 and the second round in each of the past two seasons, eliminated Westlake from the playoffs last season with a 1-0 victory in a first-round game at Westlake.

The Warriors’ victory Saturday came with a price. Forward Patty Hostin was lost for the season after tearing a knee ligament in the 35th minute.

Hostin, who scored 13 goals this season and has been invited to walk on at California, fell to the turf in pain after colliding with Ventura goalkeeper Jeannine Loudermilk as the two raced for a loose ball.

“It’s a tremendous loss,” Westlake Coach Tahn Hyun said. “She’s one of our highest scorers and she’s shown leadership.”

Westlake (18-3-2) outshot the Cougars, 7-0, in the first half before the game became more evenly contested in the final 40 minutes.

Chu opened the scoring 11 minutes before halftime with her 13th goal. The junior took a short pass from Jenna Wirtz just outside the top of the penalty area and, after several quick touches to settle the ball, knocked a 20-yard shot into the left side of the net while on the run.

“I can’t believe that went in,” Chu said. “All year I’ve had balls come to me and I put them over the goal or way off [target]. That was one of the sweetest goals I’ve made this year.”

Until Hostin’s injury, which delayed the game for five minutes, play had taken place almost exclusively on the Ventura side of the field.

But in the final minutes of the first half and the first 25 minutes of the second, the Cougars (14-9-2) sprang to life.

“We came out real flat,” Ventura Coach Mike Ishihara said. “For whatever reason, we just didn’t have much fire.”

Ventura, which was outshot, 13-5, had its best scoring opportunity in the 55th minute when Kitty Sexton leaped to head a cross from Erin Specht off the crossbar.

Sexton, who began the season as the Cougars’ goalkeeper, carried much of the team’s scoring load with 19 goals. But her strength lies in an ability to shoulder smaller opponents aside for loose balls in the box.

Against Westlake, Sexton’s teammates rarely got her the ball and she was unable to create her own shots when they did.

“We need somebody else to score too,” Ishihara said. “When we moved [Sexton] up [to forward] we told the team you can’t just depend on her.”

Ishihara credited the play of Chu and Spangler with reducing Sexton’s scoring chances.

“Those two were pretty strong in the central midfield,” Ishihara said. “They were beating taller players for balls in the air.”

With Ventura pushing forward in search of an equalizer, Westlake scored an insurance goal in the final minute when Megan Daly’s cross from the right wing was knocked in at the left post by Wirtz. It was her 10th goal of the season.

“We weren’t firing on one or two cylinders,” said Hyun, the Westlake coach. “But the girls are hungry and they want to go all the way.”