IRVINE – It took a while to break through, but No. 4 Los Alamitos got a jump on the quest for Excalibur on Tuesday.
Los Alamitos controlled the course of play, and Vanessa Millsaps scored a goal and assisted on another in the final five minutes to beat Yorba Linda, 2-0, in the first round of the Excalibur Tournament at the Orange County Great Park.
“We’re really happy that the girls showed patience,” Los Alamitos assistant coach Mossy Kennedy said. “We played everybody, so it was a triumph for the system. We really liked how they had faith in how we play.”
Los Alamitos (11-1-2) kept the ball mostly on the Yorba Linda (1-3-1) half of the field but couldn’t get one across the line until late in the second half.
In the 65th minute, Millsaps got a ball from Jayden Newkirk on the left side and cut into the box.
“I saw space in the middle of the field,” Millsaps said. “I took two touches in and I had a bullet shot to the right side of the goal.”
The shot went off the fingertips of the Yorba Linda goalkeeper for the lead, 1-0.
On the Griffins’ next possession two minutes later, Millsaps got the ball at the same spot and cut into the box again, but she didn’t get things to go as cleanly.
“I had a bigger touch than I expected and got close to the girl,” Millsaps said. “So I tried to poke it as quick as I can and kind of ate it. It worked out.”
Millsaps tipped the ball back and collided with a defender. Morgan Meza stepped into the ball and sent it to the upper left corner for the two-goal advantage.
Goalkeeper Lindsay Kellogg collected the shutout for Los Alamitos.
Yorba Linda has scored only one goal in five games this season after losing nine starters to graduation from last season’s CIF-SS Division 3 runner-up.
“We have a young team, an inexperienced team,” Yorba Linda coach Scott Andersen said. “It’s just a matter of getting them to figure out how they’re going to play. The soccer is getting better.”
In other Excalibur Tournament games:
Mater Dei 1, San Clemente 0: Hailey Hopkins put in the lone goal for the Monarchs, and Kelly McManus posted the five-save shutout. Mater Dei plays Los Alamitos in tomorrow’s second round.
No. 8 Huntington Beach 1, Trabuco Hills 1: Oilers advanced on penalty kicks, 3-2, as goalkeeper Rachel Harris made two saves and scored in the tiebreaker. In the second round, Huntington Beach plays Canyon who beat Del Norte of San Diego, 3-0.
In the North Orange County Classic:
No. 2 Aliso Niguel, No. 5 JSerra, No. 9 Sunny Hills and El Toro each won their pools and advanced to the championship bracket.
Newport Harbor and La Mirada tied for first place in their pool and were even on the first four standings tiebreakers. The two teams will compete in penalty kicks on Wednesday at 9:15 a.m. to determine the pool winner.
