Diablos Tie Up Share of League Title

It wasn’t a victory, but it will suffice.

Mission Viejo tied host El Toro, 1-1, Monday, to secure a share of its first South Coast League girls’ soccer title since 1992. Capistrano Valley won the past four league championships.

Mission Viejo, ranked second in the county, played well in spurts. But the Diablos also suffered a defensive lapse that allowed the Chargers to score the tying goal.

“It was a very physical game,” Mission Viejo Coach Susie Daher said. “El Toro played great defensively and we had a good offensive attack. It just took us awhile to put the ball in the net.”

After a scoreless first half, Mission Viejo (13-1-5, 6-0-3) scored in the 46th minute when Kendal Billingsley stole a pass, broke free at midfield, dribbled into the center and fired a shot into the left corner of the net just past the out-stretched arms of goalkeeper Kristina Plumley.

“We had a mental breakdown,” said El Toro Coach Kevin Otsuji. “We try to impress, don’t let the ball hit the ground. But we let the ball hit the ground and they capitalized on our mental error.”

El Toro (15-7-2, 5-3-1) scored the tying goal 23 minutes later off a two-on-one that started at midfield.

Nicole Imech won the ball and drove her defender straight into the penalty box before passing to Lindsay Smith in the right corner. When the defender moved over to cover her, Smith centered the ball to Imech, who knocked it into the right corner with her right foot.

“There was a big breakdown on defense on our part, but they had a great transition” Daher said. “They made a good play on the cross and the girl just made a great shot.”

The Diablos had 13 shots on goal, with Billingsley accounting for seven. Freshman goalkeeper Katie Wright had three saves.

El Toro, playing its fourth game without captain and four-year starter April Pettigrew, who has a broken nose, had four shots on goal and Plumley had four saves.

“It was a great game and it seemed like both teams played well,” Otsuji said. “Coming in we had two goals, to work on our transition game and to stop them from taking too many shots. We did all right in those areas.”