Esperanza Finds Inspiration to Oust Capistrano Valley

Capistrano Valley Coach Jack Peterson’s worst fears came true Friday when his second-seeded Cougars were stunned by visiting Esperanza, 3-1, in the first round of Southern Section Division I girls’ soccer playoffs. Peterson had moaned loudly about his team’s draw, which placed the Cougars in a first-round matchup against the county’s 10th-ranked team.

Obviously, he had good reason to moan.

Esperanza (13-8-5) fell behind, 1-0, within 10 minutes on a goal by Cougar forward Chandra King. But the Aztecs scored twice before halftime on long free kicks that got by Capistrano Valley goalkeeper Elizabeth Ahern, who was filling in for Haley Kuhn, who left the team three weeks ago for personal reasons.

The Cougars were also missing sophomore starters Ashley Casas and Kristen Moore, who are in Orlando, Fla., this week working out with a junior national development team.

The Aztecs made it 3-1 with 12 minutes left when Adrienne Lindsey tipped in a well-placed cross by Heather Jablonski, who set a school single-season record with her 12th assist.

Capistrano Valley (16-2-4) never stopped shooting and put 17 shots on goal to only six by Esperanza. But most of the Cougars’ shots were well off their mark or saved easily by Esperanza keeper Kristen Skinner.

“No excuses,” said Peterson, whose team beat Esperanza, 3-0, earlier this season. “[Esperanza] played hard. We couldn’t finish anything to save our lives. Mistakes just killed us.”

The Cougars’ first crucial mistake came in the 23rd minute when Laura Watts lofted a direct free kick from 30 yards that Ahern appeared to overrun. As she tried to get back into position to catch the ball, she was nudged in the air and the ball flew over her head.

Six minutes later, Watts knocked a low line drive from midfield that was headed backward by Capistrano Valley’s Megan Abbamonto. The ball short-hopped Ahern and bounced over her head into the net.

“We worked for 90 minutes in practice to play a defensive system, but after they scored first that was all out the window,” Esperanza Coach Trevor Ickes said. “But then, I don’t know what it was. Something just clicked.”

“The first two goals were very fortunate. But the third one was pure determination. [Ahern] has played solid for them. We just got a couple lucky bounces today.”

King agreed: “Elizabeth has played great. It’s a team game. We lose together.”

The Cougars, who fell in the Division I title game last year, didn’t lose without shedding plenty of tears. One by one, Peterson hugged his players as they grudgingly left the field.

Meanwhile, as Esperanza celebrated, it gave an assist to Peterson.

“We read his comments about them not wanting to play us,” Watts said. “That was a big motivation.”

Ickes said he felt Capistrano Valley’s difficult draw worked in his team’s favor.

“Maybe something’s got to change, but we took advantage of the situation,” Ickes said. “They respected us and they didn’t want to play us. I know he had good intentions with his comments, but we twisted them around to get our team pumped up.”

Esperanza assistant Hamid Sedehi, Capistrano Valley’s former coach was no doubt doing some of the twisting. Afterward, Sedehi hugged his former players.

“I don’t know if what [Peterson] said had anything to do with it,” King said. “They were playing the No. 2 seed. This is Hamid’s former team. I know how he can get a team fired up.”

Esperanza, which defeated Westminster, 9-1, in the wild-card round and has won five in a row, will host Aliso Niguel in the second round Tuesday.

In other Division I games:

Aliso Niguel 6, Apple Valley 1--Kim Divine scored two goals and had one assist and Jourdan Whistler had a goal and an assist to lead host Aliso Niguel to its first playoff victory in school history. Los Alamitos 3, Downey 0--Kaeli Kentner, Nicole Mularkey and Susan Palmer scored goals, Kristi Bissonnette had two assists, and Ashley DeAlejandro made four saves for her 16th shutout for the visiting Griffins (18-4-3), who advance to play Temecula Valley.

Mission Viejo 3, El Toro 1--Sophomore Lindsey Huie scored with less than a minute to play before the half, giving the fourth-seeded Diablos (15-6-3) the lead. Senior Ann Desmond scored her second goal of the game midway through the second half. Gina Hintz scored for El Toro.