Girls soccer: CdM hopes to avoid surprise ending

Barry Faulkner

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - The Corona del Mar High girls soccer team is

hoping the quest for its first CIF Southern Section Division IV

championship follows a North Hollywood script.

Weather permitting, the top-seeded Sea Kings (26-1-3) will visit No.

4-seeded Harvard-Westlake (17-3-4) in today’s 3 p.m. semifinal on the

Wolverines’ North Hollywood campus.

After topping high-scoring Valley Christian, 3-0, in Thursday’s

quarterfinal, Coach Ron Evans’ Sea Kings will battle the defensive-minded

Mission League runner-up, which sustained two of its three losses to

four-time defending section titlist and league rival Chaminade.

The Wolverines, who reached their only section title game in 1992,

have posted seven shutouts, but have not allowed more than two goals to

any foe this season. Only Chaminade (twice) and Buena have scored more

than once against Coach Ned Smith’s Wolverines. All three times, it was

enough to win.

CdM, which has outscored three playoff foes, 15-0, has amassed 107

goals this season, while allowing just 17. The Sea Kings, who enter on a

26-game unbeaten streak that includes eight straight wins and four

straight shutouts, have scored fewer than two goals only seven times this

season.

CdM, which was eliminated by Chaminade in last year’s Division IV

semifinals, has utilized nine goal scorers to dominate in the postseason,

though leading scorer Allison Harvey, a junior forward, is not among

them. All-CIF as a sophomore, Harvey, who netted 25 regular-season goals,

tore knee cartilage in the Pacific Coast League finale and has been

relegated to spot duty the last two games. She sat out the first-round

playoff triumph.

With Harvey limping back into form, Kristin Hanson (three), Lauren

Shepherdson (two), Alison Brawner (two), Kinzie Kramer (two) and Elisha

Morgan (two) have spearheaded a balanced postseason offense, which has

outshot opponents, 94-10, in three playoff games.

But while the CdM offense gets much of the headlines, the back-to-back

PCL champions’ defense is similarly strong. Senior goalie Britta Vogele,

bound for the University of Iowa, has anchored a unit that has posted 15

shutouts.

With a back line of senior sweeper Molly O’Meara, seniors Margit

Vogele and Natalia Dorfman, as well as sophomore Paige Janes, Britta

Vogele has been required to make only six postseason saves.

Evans has warned his team that each successive step toward a potential

final clash with No. 2-seeded Chaminade (scheduled to host Mission League

rival Louisville today in the other semifinal), would be more and more

difficult.

“In order for us to win, we’re going to have to play our best game of

the year,” Evans said of today’s test. “But, I also believe (the

Wolverines) will need to play their best game in order to beat us.”

Harvard-Westlake, which won the ultra-competitive Mission League crown

five of the last seven seasons, defeated Bishop Montgomery, last year’s

Division IV runner-up, 2-0, in Thursday’s quarterfinal.

Jamie Artsis and Tracy Lansing had goals, while goalie Dana Reyes

posted the shutout, the Wolverines’ first of the postseason. They beat

Notre Dame Academy, 6-1, and La Reina, 3-1, in their first two playoff

wins.

Today’s winner would advance to the championship game, scheduled

Saturday, against either Chaminade (21-4-2) or Louisville (7-8-2).