Late goals lead to tie for Flintridge Prep, La Cañada girls’ soccer

LA CAÑADA — If there was a lingering question during Thursday afternoon’s girls’ soccer city rivalry match between visiting Flintridge Prep and La Cañada High, perhaps it’s who or what would break through.

While the ominous rain clouds that surrounded La Cañada’s stadium stayed silent, the Spartans and Rebels struck late as they settled for a 1-1 nonleague tie in a contest between two short-handed squads.

“There’s no excuses for us because everyone is missing players,” said Flintridge Prep Coach Esteban Chavez, who was down five athletes due to injuries and vacation. “I think we played well enough to have won the game, no offense to them.

“Then we give up a goal with three minutes left and then even it up right at the end. I guess both teams think they should have won.”

Thursday was a rematch of a 4-1 victory for the Rebels (10-1-2) in pool play action of the Duarte Tournament on Dec. 6.

For 75 minutes, the match was filled with plenty of scoring opportunities, but no actual goals.

That all changed when La Cañada sophomore midfielder Cecily Lowe banged home a 10-yard goal off the goalpost and in to give the Spartans (3-8-1) a 1-0 lead in the 76th minute.

“It was pretty fun and really intense,” Lowe said of the contest. “I think overall we really played well as a team, but I think at the end, we fell apart a little bit.”

The score came on the 17th combined shot of the contest.

Shot No. 19 ended up changing the result, as Rebels junior midfielder Dima Bazzi headed in a goal in the 80th minute off a last-second corner kick from Natalie Brown to the tie the game at 1.

“We had a corner try a little earlier where the pass was just a little too low for me, so I couldn’t head it,” Bazzi said. “I thought if I’d get one more chance I’d get it in.

“On the second try, Natalie arched it and I saw that I had no defenders and just hit it in.”

The match’s final shot ended plenty of frustration for the Rebels, who finished with 11 attempts and were denied three times by Spartans sophomore goalie Ashley Messier.

The biggest denial of the day, however, came from the goalpost.

Flintridge Prep’s Helen Schaefer, a reigning All-Area selection, had her penalty kick clank off the right post and out of play in the 48th minute in a somewhat bizarre sequence.

Two minutes earlier, Messier was given a yellow card for a tackle in the box, which gave Flintridge Prep the penalty try and led to Messier’s temporary removal.

La Cañada first-year Coach Kevin Neumeier scrambled for a replacement and inserted a somewhat inexperienced Sidney Hwang into the net.

The move paid off as Schaefer missed and Messier was substituted back into the contest two minutes later without any harm to the Spartans.

“She has a basketball background, so I knew she could catch the ball,” Neumeier said of Hwang.

La Cañada also had a near goal in the 54th minute when Gianna Mor ripped a 12-yard score that was wiped away when the assistant referee said Mor had pushed off right before her shot.

Flintridge Prep’s Lindsey Uteda finished with five saves and kept the Spartans off the board when she denied Mor, who broke free for a 12-yard shot, in the second minute.

The shot was batted out of bounds and the subsequent corner kick try was lobbed right at Uteda, who made the save.

Flintridge Prep nearly broke through in the 11th minute when a cross into the penalty area from Julia Gonzalez was one-timed by Molly Scott off a defender’s chest right into the arms of Messier.

“My girls did awesome,” said Neumeier, who was missing three players. “It’s been a rough preseason for us in terms of just getting people healthy. All I ask the girls to do is work hard today and we’ll build off of this.”