Huntington Beach girls’ soccer wins first Excalibur title
The only thing as cool as winning the Excalibur Tournament of Champions title may be getting to keep the sword that comes with it.
“We get to keep it?” members of the Huntington Beach High girls’ soccer team asked Friday, after pulling it from a stone following the tournament’s conclusion.
The Oilers took fun pictures with the sword, and head coach Raul Ruiz even used it as he pretended to knight assistant coach Lorena Adame.
“At the beginning of the game, we were saying,’We’re playing for the sword,’” senior co-captain Jaiden Anderson said with a laugh.
Mission accomplished for Huntington Beach, which earned a 2-1 victory over Corona Santiago at Foothill High to claim the prestigious tournament for the first time in program history.
It continues a hot start to the season for the Oilers (8-2-3), who finished second in the top division at the Best in the West Winter Soccer Classic earlier this month.
“We’re having a very good season,” Ruiz said. “We’re consistent now. We started off kind of iffy. We talked about our deficiencies being our back line, but at the end of the day, we’ve worked so hard to make sure that our back line now becomes a strength. Like you saw today, defense won the championship.”
Huntington Beach is ranked No. 5 in the most recent CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll, while Santiago came in ranked No. 2.
Santiago took the early lead in the 13th minute, after sophomore defender Abbie Kelly buried a free kick from 45 yards out off the leaping attempt from goalkeeper Yzabelle Marrero and into the upper part of the goal.
Huntington Beach got the equalizer in the 27th minute, after sophomore co-captain Sienna McAthy earned a corner kick. Anderson headed the ball in the box, and it found the feet of sophomore Alicia Katter, who put it away.
Six minutes later, sophomore Olivia Young’s pass connected with freshman Camille Soleau, who buried the shot in the left corner of the net for a 2-1 halftime advantage.
Meanwhile, Huntington Beach held the Sharks (8-2-2) off the scoreboard the rest of the way. Marrero dove to her left to make a key save on Santiago’s Krystal Medina in the box in the final minutes.
Senior defender and co-captain Julianna Upstill is a leader in the back, while freshman Alex Katter — Alicia’s younger sister — made numerous plays. Sophomores Chloe Siok and Kaitlyn Lee, as well as freshman Kayla Belmore, were also among the contributors.
“Our back line is all pretty much new players, so it was difficult at first to kind of work together,” Upstill said. “But we’re getting really comfortable with each other. I think we’ve definitely learned how to work together and everything throughout our games.”
Senior center midfielder Gracie Cogan is the fourth co-captain this year for the Oilers.
Huntington Beach will be back to work on Tuesday, getting ready for its Surf League opener at home against Edison on Thursday night. It’s always a big game against the rival Chargers.
“We’re just getting going,” McAthy said. “We started off not the best, and every game since then has just been better and better. I’m excited to see what comes next.”
Anderson scored in regulation, assisted by McAthy, as the Oilers earned a 1-1 (3-2 on penalty kicks) win over Temecula Valley in the tournament semifinals earlier Friday.
Edison wins Merlin Championship
Olivia Green scored both goals as Edison won the Merlin Championship (consolation title) at the Excalibur tournament on Friday, beating Esperanza 2-0.
Edison went 3-1 in the tournament, also notching wins over Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and Cypress. Lola Coderre, Harlee Thomas, Claire Whitcher and Emma Rachel Valenzuela also scored in the tournament for the Chargers.
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