Marina Cuts to Chase, Knocks Out Aliso Viejo

Three headers and a left-footed shot by Jessie Chase one minute into sudden-death overtime combined to give Marina a 2-1 upset over fourth-seeded Aliso Niguel in the first round of the Southern Section Division I girls’ soccer playoffs Saturday at Aliso Niguel.

Erin Droeger started the sequence with a header out to the wing and Paige Morgan headed it back into the box, where Laura Riegler flicked it to Chase, who chipped a shot past goalkeeper Taryn Acosta. The Vikings advanced to Tuesday’s second round against Long Beach Poly.

“I could just feel [that we were going to win],” said Riegler, a senior. “I told Jessie before we went into the second overtime that we were going to score. This was big because it wasn’t in our favor to win, but we worked so hard this year to get here.”

Riegler tied the score for the Vikings 32 minutes into the first half. Freshman Erin Yznaga sent the ball across the field to Riegler, who took it inside and sailed a shot from the side of the box. The ball went through the hands of a diving Acosta and edged just inside the far post.

Aliso Niguel (15-2-3), the only team to defeat top-seeded Capistrano Valley this season, played without Coach Randy Dodge, who was red-carded in the Wolverines’ last league game.

The Wolverines took the lead one minute into the game when Lauryn Birkinshaw sailed the ball from midfield to Tessa Baker, who broke to the goal and tapped it past goalkeeper Cari Delaney. Delaney recovered quickly and recorded 11 saves for the Vikings, including two huge ones in the final two minutes of regulation. Delaney made a diving save of a blast from Baker and moments later caught a shot from five yards out by Stacy Lindstrom.

“For Cari to play that way after giving up that early goal . . . she could have gone one or two ways, but she played exceptionally confident and helped save the game for us,” Marina Coach Tino Ray Younger said. “And there wasn’t one player on our team that didn’t believe they were going to win that game in overtime.”

In other Division I games:

Capistrano Valley 5, Irvine 0--Kristen Moore scored from 30 yards three minutes into the game for the Cougars (21-1). Irvine (9-12-2) didn’t get a shot on goal. Top-seeded Capistrano Valley scored four more goals, two by Megan Abbamanto, in the final 10 minutes of the first half. Lauren O’Grady had six saves for the Vaqueros.

San Clemente 10, Alhambra 0--Senior forwards Alison Halpern (four goals) and Tracy Walla (two goals) led the Tritons (14-3-3).

Esperanza 2, Diamond Bar 1--Adrienne Lindsey scored injury-time goals on assists by Erin Clewett and Katie Louwsma for the Aztecs (17-6-2). Erica Zimmerman scored for Diamond Bar (15-9-2).