Harvard-Westlake Unable to Defend a Quarterfinal Loss

VENTURA —  Simply put, it was an inability to defend set plays Saturday that eliminated the Harvard-Westlake High girls’ soccer team from the Southern Section Division II playoffs.

The top-ranked and Mission League champion Wolverines lost, 3-1, and watched helplessly as Buena midfielder Barbara Almaraz garnered the game-winning goal and two assists on direct kicks.

The Bulldogs’ execution was sheer delight for Coach Ed Daane, who preaches possession of the ball to his Channel League champions.

Buena (19-4-3) consistently made the correct pass, found the field’s open spaces and took the play to Harvard-Westlake (22-5-1).

“We were outplayed all over the field,” said Wolverine striker Jessica Post, whose 25th goal pulled her team into a 1-1 tie late in the first half. “They came out harder than we did and by the time we picked it up it was halftime.” Harvard-Westlake Coach Ned Smith agreed. “They controlled the first 30 minutes and set the tone. It’s a short, wide field and they were knocking the ball around us.”

Almaraz, a junior and Buena’s designated free-kick shooter, specialized in knocking the ball over the Wolverines. In the 16th minute she lofted a 45-yard direct kick to the right side of the Harvard-Westlake penalty area, where teammate Megan Munday scored on a header from 10 yards.

Post tied the game in the 31st minute when she collected a cross from Sarah Breech and scored on a close-range carom shot off the left post.

But Almaraz took over in the second half, scoring her 14th goal in the 59th minute by blasting a 20-yard direct kick past a wall of Wolverine defenders.

In the 76th minute Almaraz sealed the victory with another perfectly placed, 45-yard direct kick, which was headed in by Krista Janik for her 18th goal.

“I look to put the ball in the air and to open space where someone can run under it,” said Almaraz, whose team was ranked seventh in the division’s final coaches’ poll. “Before the game [assistant Sean Roche] told me to take some long kicks so I’d be prepared in case we had a long free kick.”

Buena, which lost in the 1994 division semifinals and the ’95 finals, will face El Modena, which defeated Alta Loma, in a Tuesday semifinal at a site to be determined.