A Season of Pain for Louisville
If only the Louisville High girls’ soccer team had wheels, then the Royals might really roll.
Without five players, including four starters, because of protracted knee and ankle injuries, Louisville was 10-3, with a 1-1 mark in Mission League play heading into a game against Chaminade on Wednesday.
“Our team is really hurting with injuries right now,” senior forward Jenny Farenbaugh said. “It’s hard to deal with, but we’ve had some seniors who have really stepped up.”
Farenbaugh is among them. She has 21 goals and eight assists. She credits Santa Clara-bound sweeper Carrie Schuler and fullback Joey Lucas, both seniors, for helping to hold the defense together in front of goalkeeper Ashley Englehart, a junior transfer from Calabasas.
Sophomore center midfielder Megan Merritt has also played well filling in for Melanie Wong, one of three players who suffered torn anterior cruciate ligaments and has been out all season.
April Millado, a senior forward who will attend Boston College on a soccer scholarship, and senior forward Celeste Hayden have been out because of knee injuries.
Right fullback Claire Ianiro and senior midfielder Kayla Spears each suffered sprained ankles in recent tournaments.
Millado and Wong probably will not make it back this season, but Hayden has been running recently and the Royals hope Spears and Ianiro will recover soon.
Until then, Louisville is keeping its eyes on the prize it won last season, when the Royals shared the Southern Section Division IV championship with Harvard-Westlake after a 2-2 tie in the title game.
“We have a good team, even without those players,” Coach Jose Perez said. “If we can get three back, I think we’re going to [be able to] make another run at it.”
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More Mission madness: Defending Mission League champion Chaminade had its 24-game league unbeaten streak, which dated to 1999, ended Monday with a 1-0 loss to Harvard-Westlake, No. 3 in The Times’ rankings.
Coach Mike Evans called the loss disappointing but added it was nothing to be ashamed of.
“Harvard-Westlake is one of the best, and really, that game could have gone either way,” he said.
Chaminade won or shared four consecutive Southern Section titles from 1996-2000 and advanced to the semifinals last season.
But this year’s team is a bit younger than those of recent years, with four starters who are freshmen or sophomores.
The Eagles (13-5, 2-1) have taken their lumps during a challenging schedule that also includes losses to top-ranked Santa Margarita, No. 8 Huntington Beach Edison, Canyon and Westlake.
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Futbol, not football: Serra League rivals Santa Margarita (11-1-2, 1-0) and No. 10 Santa Ana Mater Dei (12-3-2, 1-0), which will meet today at Mater Dei, each scored 3-1 wins last week over a common opponent.
Concord Carondelet, the sister school of football power De La Salle, was considered one of the top teams in the nation when it visited Southern California.
“That was based on last year,” Mater Dei Coach Austin Sharp said of Carondelet’s reputation.
Lauren Peterson