St. Margaret's continues undefeated run in Academy League

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO - A solid all-around team performance helped the St. Margaret’s Tartans hold off a determined effort from their biggest league rival and maintain control of the Academy League.

Katie Fragapane scored the lone goal of the match in the first half and goalie Ellie Schwartz had two big saves in the second half to help St. Margaret’s edge the Sage Hill Lightning 1-0 Friday at St. Margaret’s High.

"We have a passion to play our rivals and winning is a big deal,” Fragapane said. “Sage Hill is a great team and we’re always going to fight hard.”

The Tartans (11-4-3, 6-0) are two points ahead of second place Crean Lutheran and three points ahead of Sage Hill (10-4-3, 4-2-1).

"We won the majority of the balls in the middle, had more of the possession, and found a way to win this game,” Tartans coach Johnny Marmelstein said. “Playing Sage Hill is never an easy game and they played us hard.”

St. Margaret’s opened the match with strong pressure into the attacking third and took the lead in the 10th minute. Senior Natalie Barbaresi found an opening down the sideline and dribbled deep into the box before sending a crossing pass into the middle of the box for Fragapane, who tapped a shot into the near corner of the goal.

“The play was something we had worked on in practice over the last couple of days,” Fragapane said. “Natalie made it down the sideline, made a great pass, and I was in the right spot to get the one touch.”

The Tartans continued to possess the ball well into the second half, but Lightning senior goalie Alexa Thomas (eight saves) helped keep Sage Hill in the match.

Sage Hill began to penetrate the Tartans defense in the middle and attacking third late in the match, and in the 70th minute, Lightning senior Rannah Dabiri had a chance to tie the match when she had a step on the Tartans defense and managed to get off a shot while streaking toward the goal. But Schwartz made a lunging save to her left to prevent the score.

“I knew that I needed to keep my focus, watch the ball, watch her eyes, and see where she was going to kick it,” Schwartz said. 

A minute later, Lightning freshman Kekai Whitford sent a floating free kick toward the goal that Schwartz managed to save before the ball could cross the goal line.

St. Margaret’s defense held off the Lightning in the final moments to close out the victory.

“We came into this game knowing it would be a battle and we came out played strong and fought hard,” Lightning coach Catie Chase said. “We made one mistake in the back and just couldn’t quite finish our opportunities."

Also in the Academy League:

Crean Lutheran 2, Oxford Academy 0: Maddie Beavers and Tracy Tooker scored goals as the host Saints (11-5-4, 4-1-2) win over the Patriots (7-7, 2-4).

In the Century League:

No. 6 Villa Park 2, El Modena 0: Cassidy Hodson and Bethany Sutherland tallied goals, as the Spartans (15-4-3, 6-2) moved back into a first place tie with Esperanza with a win over the Vanguards (3-8-5, 1-6) at Fred Kelly Stadium.   

No. 7 Canyon 4, El Dorado 0: Taylor Alderete scored two goals and had an assist, as the Comanches (12-5-3, 5-3) scored four goals in the first half to defeat the Golden Hawks (6-11-2, 1-6-1) at El Dorado.