Excalibur Tournament Now an All-County Affair

Orange County showed its dominance of girls’ high school soccer Thursday as four local teams advanced to today’s semifinals of the Excalibur Tournament at Foothill High.

Santa Margarita, Capistrano Valley, Woodbridge and Mission Viejo all defeated out-of-county teams in the quarterfinals, setting up a battle for the county’s top ranking in today’s semifinal and championship games.

Santa Margarita (7-1-1), the county’s sixth-ranked team, had the closest call, playing to a 0-0 tie with San Jose Archbishop Mitty (6-1-2), before advancing in penalty kicks, 4-2.

Junior goalkeeper Allyce Lawrence got her fingers on two of Archbishop Mitty’s penalty kicks, sending both wide and giving the victory to the Eagles. Lawrence has allowed only one goal this season.

“The first week in March is what you play for,” Eagle assistant coach Eddie Huerta said. “This is the biggest tournament of the year and win or lose it will be a great learning experience to see where we are with the rest of the teams.”

The Eagles were playing without junior Katie Rivera, who has left the high school team to concentrate on her selection to the under-19 national team.

Despite Rivera’s absence, the Eagles controlled much of the game, outshooting Archbishop Mitty, 11-6. However, the Monarchs had a big size advantage on defense and were able to hold off Santa Margarita with physical play. There were 18 fouls called in the game.

Santa Margarita had several close calls in the closing minutes of regulation. Jenny Anderson blasted a throw-in from Shannon Foley that skimmed over the crossbar, Brittney Perkowski just missed a close-range header and Archbishop Mitty goalie Nikki Cimino made a diving save on a 10-yard shot by Brittany Meeks.

Santa Margarita will play Capistrano Valley and Mission Viejo will play Woodbridge today at 9:30 a.m. The championship will begin at 2:10 p.m.

In the other quarterfinal games:

Capistrano Valley 2, West Hills Chaminade 0--Senior forward Ashley Casas scored two goals for the Cougars (8-1-0).

Woodbridge 1, Claremont 0--The fifth-ranked Warriors (6-1-2) advanced with an unassisted goal by Ina Kain in the first half.

Mission Viejo 4, Alta Loma 0--Kendal Billingsley scored four first-half goals to advance the eighth-ranked Diablos (5-1-3).

In the Santa Ana City Holiday Tournament:

Santa Ana 2, Saddleback 0--Santa Ana (7-2-2) won the championship on goals by Araceli Lopez and Julia Garcia.