Girls’ Soccer: Estancia earns a point
SANTA ANA — As Josh Juarez and Scott Larsen met at midfield following Tuesday’s Orange Coast League girls’ soccer game, they talked about the parity in the league this season.
Estancia, coached by Juarez, shared the league title with Larsen’s Calvary Chapel side last season. This year Juarez said there is no clear-cut favorite to win the league, with other teams like Laguna Beach and Godinez playing well.
Still, Estancia and Calvary Chapel remain the highest-ranked teams in the league, with Estancia at No. 4 in CIF Southern Section Division 5 and Calvary Chapel at No. 8. Both teams of Eagles — Estancia and Calvary Chapel — played hard during Tuesday’s game at Centennial Regional Park.
No goals were scored, but the first-year coach Juarez will take the point that Estancia earned after the scoreless draw.
“It’s always good to get points on the road,” he said. “One goal that we’ve set for ourselves is to play really good defense and try to get shutouts, and we got another shutout today. We just weren’t able to find the goal today. I think both teams had some very good opportunities to finish.”
Through two league games, Estancia (7-4-3, 1-0-1 in league) and Calvary Chapel (6-3-3, 1-0-1) also are tied. Laguna Beach, ranked No. 9 in Division 5, is in first place early with a 2-0 league record after beating Costa Mesa, 3-0, on Tuesday.
What kept Estancia in the game against Calvary Chapel was its defense. Estancia sophomore keeper Annie Mitchell made six saves, while senior defender and co-captain Brandi White and sophomore Lexina McDowell each had plays where they cleared the ball from off the goal line. White’s came early in the game, after Mitchell went after a cross from Calvary Chapel that left the Estancia goal temporarily open.
McDowell’s saving play came in the second half, after a booming free kick by Calvary’s Jane McDonald from more than 50 yards away. Mitchell came up in the box to make the initial save, and McDowell was there to clear the follow-up shot.
Estancia junior Sammie Haynes also made some nice defensive plays throughout the game. Twice in succession early in the second half, she managed to steal the ball away from dangerous Calvary Chapel sophomore striker Eliya Lowe in the box.
“I think we had a lot of character in this game,” Juarez said. “We worked hard, we cleared some balls off the [goal] line, so I think that shows a lot of our grit and our passion. But the same thing goes for Calvary. You could see that both teams did not want to give up that first goal today.”
Estancia junior midfielder and co-captain Katarina Freiberger gave her team some of its best scoring chances. In the fifth minute, Freiberger’s shot from the right side of the box smacked off the crossbar and out of play.
Then, midway through the second half, she took the free kick after Calvary Chapel made a mistake. The referee ruled that a Calvary defender deliberately passed the ball back to goalie Gabi Haw (four saves), who picked it up with her hands. The infraction gave Estancia an indirect free kick from the right side of the box.
Freiberger crossed it to McDowell in the middle, and she took at least two shots that were deflected in front before Calvary Chapel could clear the ball.
“I told Kat to either hit it low right at their wall, or if she saw someone open in that middle to play them quickly,” Juarez said. “She saw Lexina and played her a good ball. That was another little scrum in the box there that could have gone either way.”
Both teams kept battling, but neither could record a goal. It was the fourth straight shutout for Calvary Chapel, and Estancia also has two shutouts in a row to open league.
Estancia also benefited from the standout midfield play of junior Delani Guyot and sophomores Taby Smith and Annalysa Cowie.
“It was really intense,” Smith said. “I wanted to win so badly. Just knowing that some of the forwards couldn’t get the ball as much as we wanted them to was making me pretty upset. But when I get mad, I guess I play good too. I just keep playing my game no matter what.”
Estancia has another rivalry game Thursday, when it plays Costa Mesa at 5 p.m. at Jim Scott Stadium. The Eagles are the designated road team for that one.
“I’m super-excited for Mesa,” said Smith, who was unable to play in the Battle for the Bell games as a freshman after tearing her ACL in December, 2014. “I love the intensity of both of our schools playing against each other.”
