In the second half of Thursday’s CIF-SS quarterfinal, West Torrance’s girls soccer team looked every bit like the defending Division 3 champions.
The Warriors pelted the Yorba Linda net with 11 shots in the half. But the Mustangs had an immovable object in goalkeeper Emma Deane, who was not going to allow anything to get past her.
Deane made 20 saves to lead the Mustangs past the Warriors, 4-2, in a penalty-kick shootout at Yorba Linda High.
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Thursday’s scores, updated schedule
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The sophomore kept the game scoreless through regulation and overtime. She made a save against Kaitlin Creede in the first round of the shootout, which was all the Mustangs needed.
“I’d rather not make 20 saves and just get it done,” Deane said. “I did what I had to do. I wasn’t ready to go home. I wasn’t done yet.”
Yorba Linda (14-4-4) will be at third-seeded San Luis Obispo on Tuesday for its semifinal.
Georgia Lodge, Jacquelyn Dunlap, Halle Walls and Caitie Dolan converted their penalty kicks for Yorba Linda. After Devoney Amberg’s shot struck the crossbar and stayed out to secure the win for the Mustangs, Deane was mobbed by her teammates.
“You can’t ask for a better player who has worked hard out here,” Mustangs coach Greg Aviles said of Deane. “It was definitely a coming out party for her for sure.”
While Deane was aggressive in cutting off the angles available to Warriors forwards Kayla Cannon and Emily Atkinson, Yorba Linda was able to survive and advance with some breaks.
In the 75th minute, the Warriors (20-4-3) were awarded a penalty kick. Megan McComas stepped up to the shot and pushed it wide right. Four minutes into extra time, a would-be winning goal by West Torrance’s Sam Layman was nullified by an offsides ruling.
Dunlap, a senior, said the missed penalty kick gave the Mustangs a boost of confidence, which they took into their second consecutive shootout ending.
“Every season I’ve been here, we’ve been unable to win a game in PK’s,” Dunlap said. “Last game (against Glendora), we broke that curse. In this game, we moved on, and we said we’re going to do it again. Every one of our players made their kick.”
Also in Division 3:
El Dorado 1, Warren of Downey 0: Freshman Christiane Sundstrom scored in the 97th minute to send the Golden Hawks (16-8-5) to the semifinals.
In Division 1:
Chino Hills 1, No. 2 Aliso Niguel 0 (2OT): Alexis Vera scored in the 93rd minute to upset the top-seeded Wolverines (16-1-5).
No. 4 Santa Margarita 1, Harvard-Westlake of Studio City 1 (SM advances on PKs, 4-3): Kristin Daniels assisted on Thalia Georgiou’s goal, and Christina Kosmala made five saves for the Eagles (19-5-1).
In Division 2:
Newbury Park 1, No. 10 Troy 0: Tara McKeown’s goal in the 31st minute helped beat the top-seeded Warriors (17-4-4).
Northwood 2, Oaks Christian of Westlake Village 2 (Northwood advances on PKs, 5-4): The Timberwolves (15-4-6) avenged last year’s loss to the Lions (13-4-2) in the quarterfinals. Danielle Solaru and Brooke Kong scored for Northwood.
