Santiago beats Los Alamitos, moves on to Open title game

CORONA >> It took a bit of an attitude adjustment for the Santiago girls soccer team to complete the task.

After a shaky first 40 minutes, the Sharks dominated the second half, and Maddy Saruwatari scored the match-winner near full time in a 1-0 victory over Los Alamitos on Saturday night in the second leg of the CIF Southern Section Open Division semifinals.

“It wasn’t really anything tactical,” Santiago coach Mike Fleming said. “It was just, ‘Have some attitude and focus on the process.’”

Goalkeeper Abigail Turley held on for a third consecutive postseason shutout for Santiago (22-2-2), which advanced 2-0 on aggregate over Los Alamitos, a CIF-SS Division 1 and CIF State Division I regional finalist last season.

“Got the shutout and the defense did a great job collectively,” Fleming said.

The Sharks will play Santa Margarita on Friday night at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach. Kickoff time will be announced.

“I truly believe that if we play our way, we will end up CIF champions,” Saruwatari said. “I know some of the girls on (Santa Margarita). It’s going to be a good battle.”

Zamorah Malinoski, who has scored 17 goals, was held in check as Los Alamitos (16-7-5) did not score in consecutive matches for the first time this season.

“(Santiago) is a very good team from front-to-back, (but) we needed to be more clinical up top,” Los Alamitos coach Pat Rossi said. “This just burns the girls more and we’ll come back just as hungry next season.”

The Griffins, six-time Sunset Surf League champion, have played in the Division 1 final each of the last two years.

“’Los Al is a storied program. There’s a reason they’re here year after year in D1 and in the Socal Regionals,” Fleming said. “We knew it would be a dog fight, even with the one-goal aggregate.”

Bri Norman nearly gave Santiago a lead in the 18th minute, but her left-footed blast was tipped over the cross bar by Los Alamitos goalkeeper Avarie Gonzalez.

In the 33rd minute, Los Alamitos sent a free kick into the box and momentarily had an open look at the goal after Turley stumbled, but the Griffins were unable to get a shot through traffic.

Four minutes later, Saruwatari turned her defender and pinged a shot off the crossbar only to send Los Alamitos the other way on a counter-attack with Turley saving a potential own goal when she turned away a header from a teammate just before halftime.

“We could definitely feel the pressure,” Saruwatari said. “We only had a onegoal cushion unlike against Mater Dei when we had three goals.”

The second half was almost all Santiago as the Sharks controlled possession in their attacking half and did not allow Los Alamitos a shot on goal.

Saruwatari had a deflected shot saved by Gonzalez in the 49th minute. The Sharks thought they had a goal with 15 minutes remaining but Saruwatari was judged offside by the assistant referee despite tucking the ball into the back of the net.

“Tense moments throughout the match and I always felt like we were a pass away from breaking down their defense,” Fleming said. “It finally materialized, and it only took one play.”

The Sharks got their goal in the 76th minute with Krystal Medina and Jordan Goldstein connecting down the left side before finding Saruwatari open in the middle for a shot.

“Mentally I was like, ‘This is your one shot. You need to put it way,’” Saruwatari said. “Thankfully, I was able to do that, (and) that last goal allowed us to celebrate as a team and that felt really good.”

Santiago won the Division 2 title in 2015 and the Division 1 title in 2020. This is the first season the Southern Section has had an Open Division for its soccer playoffs.