Huntington Beach girls’ soccer battles, loses at No. 2-seeded Upland

The Huntington Beach High girls’ soccer team had an impressive run last season, making it to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals and CIF Southern California Regional Division 1 final for the first time in program history.

Last year’s playoff run started with an upset win at No. 4-seeded Studio City Harvard-Westlake. This year, the Oilers tried to knock off another seeded team to try to jump-start another lengthy postseason stay, this time in the second round.

Second-seeded Upland was up to the challenge on Tuesday. The Highlanders earned a 3-1 victory at home in the second round of the Division 1 playoffs, ending the Oilers’ season.

Senior captain Alijah Oliver scored the goal in the second half for Huntington Beach (15-10-4), which ended an up-and-down season that saw the Oilers make the final of the prestigious Excalibur Tournament of Champions but also finish fourth in the Sunset League, forcing the Oilers to apply for an at-large berth for CIF.

“We were definitely the underdogs [last year], and I think we were this year too,” said Oliver, who has signed to play for the University of Tulsa. “We still had high hopes. We had the potential to make it far … Our team was so skilled, we just didn’t know how to put it all together. I just loved the girls I was surrounded with, so I had fun no matter what.”

The Oilers missed a chance to play Harvard-Westlake again after the Wolverines beat Troy 2-0 in another second-round match Tuesday. It is Baseline League champion Upland (16-2-1), ranked No. 2 in California by MaxPreps.com and No. 4 by TopDrawerSoccer.com, that will play host to Harvard-Westlake in a Division 1 quarterfinal match on Friday.

The Highlanders got on the board against Huntington Beach in the 40th minute, just before halftime, on a corner kick from junior Brooke Mobeck.

Oilers sophomore goalkeeper Chloe Romney, who made six saves, did well to get to Peyton Dyer’s header in the box and deflect it off the crossbar. The ball bounced back out to Dyer, who volleyed the rebound into the goal.

Huntington Beach briefly tied the score in the 54th minute. Xolani Hodel played the ball forward to Oliver, who calmly blasted a shot into the upper-right corner of the goal. Five minutes later, though, Upland went back ahead.

Two talented freshmen combined for the score. Romney came all the way out to challenge Upland freshman Tiana Egland on the left side of the field. She was able to get back into the goal by the time Egland passed to Alexys Ocampo, but Ocampo’s shot, like Oliver’s minutes before, was blasted into the upper-right part of the net.

Huntington Beach nearly earned an equalizer in the 67th minute after Hodel’s long throw-in from the right. Senior captain Brianna Barnes had a backward header near the right post that went to senior Remi Davison, but Davison’s header hit off the crossbar and out.

The Oilers were unlucky, and they paid for it a minute later. The hosts got an insurance goal, as Kaya Pigoni blasted a straightaway free kick from 30 yards out that went into the left part of the net.

“Little by little, I think physically, they found their rhythm,” Huntington Beach coach Raul Ruiz said. “They closed the first half stronger than we did, and they got the goal. The second half, we put a little bit of pressure on them, but again we made a couple of mistakes. But they’re a very good team, a well-coached side. What they had over us was being patient the whole match, and I think it paid off for them.”

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo