Harvard-Westlake Leaves No Doubt

This time there we no nervous players, no hype, no own goals or poor field conditions, all characteristics of the last time Harvard-Westlake High played Louisville.

When it was over, Louisville was left searching for a way to pick up the pieces in time to play Chaminade on Friday.

Louisville allowed two easy goals in the first six minutes and watched the Wolverines claim a 3-1 Mission League victory Wednesday in North Hollywood.

The Wolverines held first place in the Mission League and dropped Louisville to fourth and out of the title race with four games left.

“We are playing really bad right now,” said Coach Jose Perez of Louisville. “We’re going through a bad stage. This is not a good time for us. We are making to many mistakes on defense.

“In the beginning our defense was our strength but now our defense is our weakness. It’s better to have it happen now than in the playoffs.”

Louisville (10-4-8, 2-3-1 in league play) has dropped consecutive games for the first time this season, while the Wolverines (13-2-3, 5-0-1) are unbeaten in their last six.

The Royals have lost only two road games in the two years, both at Harvard-Westlake.

The Wolverines scored on their first two shots of the game.

Tracy Lansing set up Imani Dorsey on a cross fewer than 40 seconds into the game and Lansing half-volleyed a cross from Dorsey into the goal in the sixth minute.

“We didn’t think it was going to be like this,” said midfielder Molly Cahan of Harvard-Westlake, who has not lost to Louisville in four years.

“They are a good team. We tied them in the preseason and they thought they should have beat us, and the we beat them in the first league game and they said it was because of an own goal, but this time we beat them for real.

“We outshot teams early in the season, but we weren’t scoring. Now we are scoring.”

After midfielder Jessica Hyman of Louisville headed in a cross from Jenny Farenbaugh in the seventh minute, it was all Wolverines.

The Royals didn’t take a shot after the 34th minute, when shots by Celisse Hayden and Nathalia Fernandez were blocked by defenders.

Harvard-Westlake took 18 shots, eight on goal and nine by Dorsey. Louisvillie had three.

Gina Farias-Eisner scored for Harvard-Westlake less than a minute into the second half to provide the final score.