Last Day of Year Not Best Day of Year for the Oilers

There’s nothing like waiting until the last minute--except maybe doing it twice.

And in its last game of the Ocean View girls’ soccer tournament, on the last day of the year, that’s what Torrance Bishop Montgomery did against Huntington Beach Thursday at Ocean View High.

Ashley Risner scored in the last minute of the first half and Andrea Valadez scored in the last minute of the second half for Bishop Montgomery, giving the Knights a 2-0 victory and the tournament title in their first appearance.

Bishop Montgomery (9-3-1) gained control of the game midway through the fist half by loading its end of the field with defenders and not allowing the Oilers (6-3-2) to get any close-range shots.

“We wouldn’t shoot from the outside for some reason,” Huntington Beach Coach Charles Tyler said. “They packed it in and we kept trying to penetrate. If we shot from the outside we’d have had a better chance.”

Huntington Beach, making its first appearance in the tournament final, played without midfielder Katie Wilson, who injured her neck in the semifinals against Mater Dei. The Oilers also played without the intensity displayed by Bishop Montgomery, which seemed to beat Huntington Beach to every free ball.

“We stress the three E’s,” Knight Coach Billy Duranceau said. “Enthusiasm, energy and execution. Energy was the key today. I thought [Huntington Beach] had the better of us for the first 20 minutes, but when we picked up our energy we took control.”

The Oilers gained a little control back near the end of the game, with Kendra Aston and Kathy Shea penetrating the defense several times with nifty moves, but neither could manage a clean, open look at the goal with Bishop Montgomery defenders Maggie Kirchhoff, Kristen Konopka and Erin Loether altering shots.

On the other end, Huntington Beach goalie Blythe Curran did her best to keep the Oilers close.

She came charging out of the net to stuff shots by Valadez and Priscilla Fellner and made another crucial save on a wide-open shot by Risner.

But when Valadez poked a sliding toe-shot past Curran, who again charged out in an attempt to stop the shot, the victory was sealed.

“She played a great game,” Tyler said of his goalie. “She just made that one mistake coming out there, but the game was already over by then.”

In other tournament games:

Orange Lutheran 2, Marina JV 0--Orange Lutheran received goals from senior forwards Molly Slane and Erin Lee (on a penalty kick) to earn a third place in the tournament’s small-school flight. Julie Shively had 14 saves for the Lancers (9-2-2). Lindsey Megill had seven saves for Marina.