Capistrano Valley Cheers Up Coach by Blanking Los Alamitos

Capistrano Valley Coach Jack Peterson was nervous before his team’s second-round Southern Section Division I playoff girls’ soccer game Tuesday.

He had reason to be. His starting goalkeeper, Haley Kuhn, was out, the field at Laurel Continuation School was a swamp and his team was playing Los Alamitos, the Division I defending champion.

That was before the game. Afterward, he was all smiles because Capistrano Valley had beaten the Griffins, 2-0.

Kuhn, who was ineligible to play after receiving a red card in the last game, was replaced by junior varsity keeper Elizabeth Ahern. She was never seriously threatened in the game and finished with two saves for Capistrano Valley (20-0-4).

Los Alamitos (13-7-2) didn’t play to its capabilities. The midfield stayed back and put little pressure on the Cougars. The game was dominated by Capistrano Valley.

“These kids played awesome today,” Peterson said. “They were emotionally and physically ready for this game. This was all them, I had nothing to do with it.”

Two seniors, Aurelin Wiedner and Kim Abbamonto, scored for the Cougars.

Wiedner gave Capistrano Valley a 1-0 lead 15 minutes into the game, when she sliced a shot from the right wing over goalkeeper Jenny Willemse’s head.

After making a diving save off a shot by sophomore Lindsay Greco, Willemse was under pressure again four minutes later when junior Chandra King got the ball on the left wing and passed it to Abbamonto directly in front of the goal. Abbamonto, from 10 yards, slammed it by Willemse.

The Cougars will face Edison in the quarterfinals--the site will be determined by a coin flip this morning.