Shutout Is Perfect Ending for Edison
Edison’s field hockey team ended a perfect season Saturday with a 1-0 victory over Marina in the Tournament of Champions final at Pleasant View Park in Huntington Beach.
It was the Chargers’ 14th shutout in a 17-0 season, their first undefeated and untied finish.
“At the beginning of the season I was a little leery about the team, because we are so young,” Charger Coach Debbie Ortega said while being drenched with sparkling apple cider. “But every game we improved and got a little bit better and here we are. The kids just pulled it all together.”
It was the Chargers’ second consecutive Tournament of Champions title. They also won their second straight Sunset League championship last month.
Edison controlled the tempo throughout the first half, keeping the ball on the Marina end of the field and outshooting the Vikings, 12-0, but didn’t score until six minutes had elapsed in the second half.
The Chargers were finally able to capitalize on their 10th penalty corner of the game. Nicole Harrison centered the ball in front of the goal and Mary Frausto slammed it past Marina goalkeeper Melissa White. Edison was awarded 13 penalty corners in the game to Marina’s three.
Marina picked up the pace in the second half, but Frausto’s goal was all the Chargers needed.
“I feel for my seniors,” Marina Coach Shelly Luth said. “But [Edison is] a really, really good team. There is a reason why they went undefeated, it wasn’t by luck.”
Although she was pleased with her team’s performance this season, the loss was a bit disheartening for Luth, who is stepping down after 14 years of coaching field hockey. She will continue as Marina’s athletic director and softball coach.
“It would have been nice to go out with a win,” Luth said. “We were here four years ago and lost, 1-0, to Santiago, so I told the team our day would come, but it wasn’t today.”
The top-seeded Chargers outshot Marina, 17-2. White had 11 saves for second-seeded Marina. Edison goalkeeper Haleh Khosrowpour had to make only one.
Marina finished 13-5.
In the third-place game:
Huntington Beach 2, Newport Harbor 0--Leslie Reed and Alicia Santiago each scored a goal to lead fourth-seeded Huntington Beach (10-3-4). Third-seeded Newport Harbor finished 8-5-4.