Girls’ Soccer: Sage Hill succumbs
One might suggest that nothing could have prepared the Sage Hill School girls’ soccer team for what it encountered in Tuesday’s CIF Southern Section Division 4 second-round playoff game against visiting Simi Valley Royal.
Yet for the previous 14 games, nothing was exactly what the Lightning surrendered to its opponents, all 14 of which had gone down to defeat.
It was the Lightning, however, who succumbed, 2-1, in a game that wasn’t as close as the score might indicate.
What’s more, Sage Hill (15-5-2) was literally out of the game before its accomplished senior goalkeeper Kekai Whitford could show enough of her ample skills to give the Highlanders (18-5-2) pause.
Whitford, who made nine saves in the final match of her brilliant prep career, had absolutely no chance on Royals’ two goals, both of which came in the opening moments of each half.
In the fourth minute, a four-player parlay opened the scoring, with Whitford collecting her first save in the middle of the sequence. But the rebound was gathered in by a Royal attacker, who fed senior Megan Henderson, standing alone about 10 yards out from the right post. Henderson promptly deposited the ball into the virtually empty net, as Whitford was still trying to recover her footing after making the sprawling save closer to the other post seconds before.
Royal, which used deft passing, anticipation and superior cohesion to consistently surge through the Sage Hill defense, appeared to score two more first-half goals, though both were nullified by offsides calls.
Sage, which had three of its seven shots before halftime, knotted the score in the 27th minute, when sophomore Maya Roston converted a penalty kick that was created when junior forward Lexi Magliarditi was tripped while chasing down a through ball inside the 18-yard box.
Sage Hill’s offense virtually consisted of service from midfield into the box, in hopes that Lightning forwards could get behind defenders, run onto the through balls and take shots on frame.
Royal, a large school for which the boys’ soccer team competes in Division 1, held a 14-3 advantage in shots at halftime, at which time its goalkeeper had just one save to Whitford’s six.
Not quite two minutes into the second half, freshman sensation Zoe Hasenauer, who came in with 14 goals, arched a driving 22-yard drive into the upper right portion of the net from the left wing that sailed over Whitford’s head and across the goal line.
Royal, the Coastal Canyon League runner-up which had posted 12 shutouts this season, finished with a 22-7 shot advantage and halted the Lightning’s 14-match win streak.
Sage Hill Coach Mike Hammond said opponents had not scored upon the Lightning during the 14-game streak that began when Whitford, an All-CIF volleyball standout who missed some early contests while helping Sage advance past the Southern Section volleyball playoffs and deep into the state playoff bracket, joined the squad.
The Lightning went 10-0 in the Academy League, outscoring league opponents including defending Southern Section Division 5 champion St. Margaret’s, 62-0.
Hammond theorized that St. Margaret’s CIF title a year ago was responsible for the move up one division, creating playoff matchups against schools with much larger enrollments.
“Royal is a good team and a big school and it’s very tough to compete against these big schools when you move up a division,” Hammond said.
“I thought our girls played well,” Hammond said. “We had a very good run. I mean I can’t ask for more. I have no idea [how the Royal girls were positioned in Division 4].”
Hammond said he would also be challenged for ideas about how to move on next season without Whitford and midfielder Paige Burke, the only two seniors on this year’s roster.
“We’re going to miss both of them,” Hammond said. “It’s going to be tough next year without them.”
It was obviously tough for Whitford, who has signed to continue her volleyball career at Loyola Marymount, to say goodbye to her teammates for the final time on the pitch. She wiped away tears while taking congratulatory hugs from what seemed to be every Lightning player, as well as many spectators who have become accustomed to her heroics during four varsity seasons.
Burke fired a shot in the 34th minute that just hooked outside the far post for Sage’s best scoring chance during the flow of play.
Junior Claire Novotny, Magliarditi and Roston also had shots for Sage, for which juniors Tiffany Taylor, Rachel Jaffe, Lauren Thunen and Jaclyn Gershultz all thwarted Royal rushes.
It was the second straight season Sage advanced to the second round. The Lightning were eliminated last season in the Division 5 quarterfinals, after 10 rounds of penalty kicks.