Big second half lifts La Cañada girls’ soccer by San Marino
LA CAÑADA — It wasn’t the start the La Cañada High girls’ soccer team had planned for in defense of its Rio Hondo League championship.
The Spartans had won just one of their first three league matches and looked to turn the tide when they met San Marino in a league home match on Wednesday afternoon.
Clinging to a one-goal halftime lead, La Cañada enjoyed a huge second half, getting two goals in a three-minute span to register a confidence-builing 3-1 victory.
“It’s definitely a huge victory and we played today a lot like we did last year,” La Cañada coach Kevin Neumeier said. “We knew we had to come out and play hard, the way we should have the first three league matches.
“We feel good about the way we played today and we just have to keep playing like that. We had some early scoring opportunities and couldn’t convert. You can’t get frustrated, so you have to keep working hard in order to make things happen.”
Mia LeClerc contributed a goal and an assist in the second half to propel the Spartans (8-5-3, 2-1-1 in league) and hand the first-place Titans (9-3-3, 3-1) a defeat.
Freshman Haley Decker gave the Spartans a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute off an assist from Charlotte Tapp. Decker earlier had hit the crossbar near the right post.
“We had to keep pushing ourselves,” Decker said. “It’s such a fast-paced game and you have to know where you are in order to create scoring chances.”
La Cañada made it 2-0 when Sidney Hwang headed in a corner kick from LeClerc in the 64th minute.
LeClerc scored three minutes later to extend the lead to 3-0.
San Marino, ranked 10th in CIF Southern Section IV with Brentwood, closed out the scoring on a goal by Puja Balaji in the 75th minute. The Titans entered the match having recorded seven shutouts.
“I thought we were a lot sharper and that’s because our work ethic was much better,” LeClerc said. “We’re really happy with our effort and we’re closer now to San Marino.”
Tapp rolled a shot from the left side that hit the right post in the 22nd minute and teammate Chloe Kouyoumdjian took a shot from 20 yards out that just went wide of the left post in the 24th minute.
La Cañada goalkeeper Ashley Messier finished with four saves and San Marino goalkeeper Emily Boutin had five.
The Spartans and Titans will meet again Feb. 8 at San Marino.
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
