Their Best Offense Is Defense : Torrance Girls’ Soccer Team Has Outscored Opponents, 193-11, the Past Two Seasons

In winning all 15 of its games this season, the Torrance High girls’ soccer team has outscored its opponents, 70-1.

So how good are the Tartars?

“They are the best team from San Diego to Ventura,” said Marine Cano, coach of the Cal State Dominguez men’s and women’s soccer teams. “They have players with an eye for the goal, yet they love to play defense. Their offense clicks because they play good defense.”

Torrance, the defending Southern Section 3-A Division champion, has had a 41-1-1 record the past two seasons. Its last defeat was a 1-0 setback to El Dorado in December, 1990.

The Tartars have maintained the No. 1 ranking in the 3-A Division this season, winning the championships of the South Bay, South Torrance and Hart tournaments. They surrendered their only goal in the Hart tournament in a 5-1 victory over Pasadena Poly.

Defense has been a big part of the team’s success. Last season, Torrance outscored its opponents, 123-10, with goalkeeper Jenny Halladay earning 21 shutouts as a sophomore. This season Halladay has been in goal in all 14 of the Tartars’ shutouts.

The program has excelled under Coach John Jackson and his wife, Karen. The couple conduct combined practices with the varsity and junior varsity teams. On game days, John serves as the main varsity coach and Karen guides the junior varsity.

In his fourth season at Torrance, John Jackson said the team’s success starts with the confidence of the players.

“Right from the start, they expect to win,” said Jackson, whose team opens Pioneer League play at 3 p.m. Friday against visiting North Torrance. “Their first thought is ‘How are we going to do in the playoffs?’ Our goal this year is to go undefeated.”

Last season, Torrance swept through the playoffs and defeated rival South Torrance, 2-1, in the 3-A final.

Many of Torrance’s players have known each other since they began playing in the American Youth Soccer Organization. Several still play together on the Torrance United club team, so they are familiar with each other.

“They are a very tightly knit team,” said Cano, who has seen Torrance play three times. “They play very hard.” Another contributing factor in the Tartars’ success, Jackson said, is that most of the players participate in other sports at Torrance.

“They are all good athletes,” Jackson said. “I had to wait (to start practice) because eight of my varsity players play volleyball and they went to the state playoffs. The day after they finish here, half of them will go to track and half of them will go to softball. I think it’s a big thing, too, that they don’t just play soccer. They have other interests; I think it gets tiring to just play one sport 12 months out of the year.”

Cano is most impressed with Torrance’s style of play.

“They get good goaltending and have one of the best players in the state in Jessica Reifer,” he said.

Reifer, a senior midfielder, leads the team in scoring with 20 goals and 10 assists. Last season’s 3-A player of the year is being recruited by Stanford and California, among others.

“Her biggest problem right now is trying to decide which scholarship offer she’ll accept,” Jackson said. “She really controls the middle and is good at distributing the ball. She has good game sense.”

Peninsula Coach Jim Alotis, who coached Reifer in youth leagues, considers her the most dominant player in the area.

“She plays with great intensity and is focused 100% of the time,” Alotis said.

Reifer, who runs cross-country and track for Torrance, has collected 10 varsity letters in 3 1/2 years. She plays on the Torrance United club team when not involved with the high school team. She also participates in the Olympic development program.

Although she is the leading scorer, Reifer favors the Jacksons’ team-oriented coaching concepts.

“We have a no-star philosophy on the team,” Reifer said. “Everybody is equal.”

Kim Blankenship plays the defensive position of sweeper for Torrance. The junior is an All-Southern Section selection in volleyball as well as soccer and holds the school high-jump record.

Peninsula’s Alotis refers to Blankenship as gifted. Jackson says she provides the leadership for the team’s outstanding defense.

“She is probably the biggest reason why we have so few goals scored against us,” Jackson said. “She is fast and when she gets beat, she can catch up with the opponent and take the ball away from them. She is probably one of the most important players on the team because she keeps the ball out of the back. We can push our other fullbacks up field because she can go one-on-one, or even two-on-one with the attackers. She can handle that.”

Halladay normally faces few quality shots during a game. That has made it difficult for her to be noticed, although Jackson said she deserves to be recognized.

“Unfortunately for Halladay, she doesn’t get to showcase her talents much because she doesn’t face a lot of shots,” Jackson said. “She may only have to make one spectacular save a game, while (our opponent’s) goalie may have to make 10 or 15 saves.”

Halladay tries to stay sharp during the game, although she knows she probably won’t be called upon very often.

“I try to organize the back area,” Halladay said. “I try to stay loose by doing jumping jacks or sprints when the ball’s at the other end.”

The only goal Halladay has allowed this season started with a corner kick.

“We just missed the coverage, and the ball just went in,” Jackson said. “It wasn’t a great goal. If it had been a great goal, it would have been a little bit easier to accept. It has made us work a little harder (defending) corner kicks.”

Halladay said: “I knew eventually someone was going to score.”

The Southern Section record for consecutive shutouts, according to Jackson, is 15. Torrance had 11 consecutive shutouts before the goal being scored and has begun a new streak of three scoreless games.

Wendy Nakashima and her twin sister Gwen also have contributed to Torrance’s success. Wendy, who is the eldest by 14 minutes, is a defender. Gwen, a left wing, is the Tartars’ second-leading scorer with 17 goals. Both players plan to continue their careers next year, either at El Camino College or Dominguez Hills.

“Both girls are scrappy,” Jackson said. “Wendy is another one of our solid defenders who does whatever she has to do to keep the ball out of the back. Gwen has a very powerful left foot and scores a lot of goals from the outside.”

Although Reifer and Gwen Nakashima have been Torrance’s main goal-scoring threats, Jackson said a balanced offense is one of the keys to the Tartars’ achievements.

“The nice thing about the team is that we don’t depend on one person to score goals,” he said. “If you look at some of the other teams, they may have one girl that has scored 30 and then maybe two or three other girls. We have 11 different people that have scored goals on our team. And they come through at different times.”

In last season’s 3-A championship game against South, both Torrance goals came from unexpected sources.

“Selina Mandel and November Wallace scored the goals,” Jackson said. “Both players are important to the program, but if you were to look for someone to score the winning goals, you wouldn’t have looked at them. They were in the right place at the right time.”