Wolverines Hold Their Ground

Call it a spell, good karma, or simply a decided home-field advantage, but the Harvard-Westlake High girls’ soccer team pushed its home unbeaten string against Chaminade to five games Monday with a 2-0 Mission League victory.

Outplayed and outshot in the first half, the Wolverines (11-2-1, 3-0 in league play), No. 3 in The Times’ regional rankings, nonetheless had a 2-0 lead by halftime.

In the 27th minute, Nadine Apelian received a Kim LaVere free kick and drove a shot off the hands of Chaminade goalkeeper Sara Leibowitz, who fell backward. Missy Fine, inserted into the game moments before, knocked in the rebound from five yards.

Three minutes before halftime, Imani Dorsey leaped to head in a corner kick by Lauren Jordan, and Chaminade (12-3-1, 1-1), No. 2 in The Times’ rankings and the two-time defending Southern Section Division III champion, came up empty against its rival.

“Physically they dominated us; we didn’t have the players to last the whole game,” said Chaminade Coach Mike Evans, whose patchwork lineup included several injured players and two others who returned Monday from lengthy injury layoffs.

Since 1994, Chaminade has won two league titles, Harvard-Westlake has won one and the teams have shared another. It makes for intense meetings, said Harvard-Westlake midfielder Molly Cahan.

“These are the games of the year for us; everyone talks about it at school for days,” Cahan said. “But today was just the first step because we know we’ll see them again in league [Feb. 1 at Chaminade] and probabaly in the playoffs.”