Gift Goal Gives Chaminade a Leg Up

In an ironic twist, the strength of the Harvard-Westlake High girls’ soccer team proved to be its undoing in a 2-0 Mission League loss to host Chaminade on Monday night.

The Wolverines (15-3-1, 6-1 in league play) had ridden the region’s top defense to the No. 2 position in The Times’ rankings, but they surrendered an own goal 14 minutes after halftime and another goal by Kim Taylor of Chaminade in the final 30 seconds.

The first score came when Chaminade’s Kristina Chew sent a free throw into the Harvard-Westlake penalty area. Sara Deckers, the Wolverine goalkeeper, said she called for the ball, but defender Kim LaVere stepped into its path and inadvertently deflected it into the goal with her hip.

Chaminade (17-3-2, 6-1-1) moved into first place and avenged a 2-0 loss to Harvard-Westlake on Jan. 11. Since 1994, the Eagles have won two league titles, the Wolverines have won one and the teams have shared another.

“This is a great rivalry that I think is going to come to a head in [the Southern Section Division IV playoffs],” said Ned Smith, Harvard-Westlake coach. “Chaminade played harder than we did.”

The intense game featured numerous collisions and the ejections of Chamiande’s Kelly Lavery and Harvard-Westlake’s Imani Dorsi after they exchanged blows in the 75th minute.

Chaminade played without sweeper Liz Buhn, who is injured, and stopper Lindsey Horn, who was serving the final game of a two-game suspension for her second ejection.

Harvard-Westlake, which started five freshmen, played without leading scorer Lauren Jordan, who injured an eye in a recent car accident, and lost standout midfielder Molly Cahan to a knee injury in the 67th minute.

The absences and attrition made for a sloppy game, and one in which Harvard-Westlake had few offensive chances other than on throw-ins and corner kicks.

BOYS’ GAME

Birmingham 2, El Camino Real 2--Ian Kogan’s 40-yard direct kick floated over the hand of goalkeeper John Wall and under the crossbar in the 45th minute to give host El Camino Real a Northwest Valley Conference tie with Birmingham.

The teams are tied for first place with three games remaining. El Camino Real (13-4-3, 8-1-2) is the defending champion and Birmingham (7-0-4, 7-0-4) won the three previous conference titles.

Birmingham took a 1-0 lead when Mike Erush headed in a free kick by Jonathan Moreno a minute before halftime. The Patriots went up 2-0 two minutes after the break when Moreno scored off a pass from Juan Luis Herera.

El Camino Real pulled to within 2-1 a minute later when Jason Lara scored off a Kogan throw and pulled even two minutes later.