Los Alamitos loses in PKs to Santa Margarita in D1 final
LONG BEACH ❯❯ Santa Margarita and Los Alamitos dueled for 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of sudden-death overtime without netting a goal Saturday night in the rain and cold with the CIF-SS Division 1 girls soccer championship at stake.
Scoring didn't get much easier during penalty kicks, but the Eagles found the winning combination to rekindle their champion ways.
Freshman goalie Peyton Trayer made three saves in penalty kicks and senior Angelina Moschetti and junior Molly MacMillan scored goals as the Eagles won the shootout 2-1 after playing to a scoreless draw at Veterans Stadium.
“It's surreal,” said the Colorado-bound Moschetti, one of the team's captains. “It's very emotional. This team has worked since summer — blood, sweat and tears — for this. We've been talking about it since Day 1.
“We could not have done it without our coaches, without God and, honestly, it's the best feeling.”
It was the Eagles' first section title since 2016 and came in the first season under Craig Bull, a coach from the powerhouse Slammers club.
Seeded second in the 16-team tournament, Santa Margarita (19-2-1) shed four consecutive losses in the second round of the playoffs to win its eighth title in school history. The Eagles edged a Los Alamitos team (18-7-5) that had won two shootouts to reach the final.
“(It's) everything about the girls,” Bull said. “I knew the girls had the talent to win a CIF title, but it takes more than talent to win these tournaments. The grit and determination, togetherness, the sisterhood — everything they've done to pull together — they absolutely deserve to win this.”
Santa Margarita took a 2-1 lead after the third set of penalty kicks. Trayer and Los Alamitos freshman goalie Avarie Gonzalez — teammates on the Slammers — each made saves in the fourth round before Trayer dived to her right to make the championship-clinching block in the first attempt of the fifth round.
“In the moment, you read the player, you have to be big, be loud and get in their head,” Trayer said of her strategy in penalty kicks.
Both teams had scoring chances in regulation. Gonzalez scrambled out from her goal to stop a shot by Santa Margarita freshman forward Jastel David early in the opening half. Los Alamitos defender Victoria Bloch narrowly missed a header on a cross.
The Griffins nearly scored early in the second half, but were called offside. Los Alamitos sophomore Viviana Zacarias later blasted a free kick from outside the box that Trayer leaped to knock over the crossbar. “I don't think any team deserved to lose that game but someone has to win it,” Bull said. “We're fortunate we have the goalie we do.”