Griffins' Girls Rally for 2-1 Victory in First Round of Soccer Playoffs

If there's been an Achilles' heel for the Los Alamitos gir’s soccer team this season, it's been an inability to score goals despite getting numerous chances.

That problem reared up in the first half of Thursday afternoon's CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoff game, but the Griffins managed to score two goals in the second half for a 2-1 victory over visiting Chaminade.

"It was the same problem -- we can't score goals," Griffins coach Steve Soler said. "We probably had three times as many chances as them, but we couldn't score in the first half.

“I told the girls at halftime to keep up the pressure and eventually we would get a break.”

That break came early in the second-half, as the Griffins (16-6-4), after 11 shots on goal in the first half, finally broke through on a goal by Taylor Vargo in the 57th minute. Vargo slipped the ball past the goalie with her right foot on a shot that was reflected by Chaminade defender Caroline Frost to give the Griffins the equalizer.

“I thought I could get it past her,” Vargo said. “I thought it would have went in if the defender wouldn’t have hit it, but luckily for me she made a good play that deflected the ball into the net.”

Los Alamitos, which had been top-ranked in Division 1 as late as Jan. 18, had fallen on hard times the last week of the regular season, losing to Edison for the second time this season and tying Fountain Valley, a team with only four victories, in Sunset League play.

“We just had some bad luck this past week,” Soler said. “It looked like after the first-half that it was going to continue.”

Late in the first half, Chaminade got a goal from sophomore Amanda Shadler, who beat two Griffin defenders to the ball, to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead on its only shot of the half.

“I reminded our girls to keep playing the way they have been and not give up," Soler said. “Instead of hurting us, that goal seemed to spark life into our whole team.”

Soler also made a crucial adjustment to his lineup in the second half, moving Natalie Donaldson from the inside forward position to the outside forward, effectively shutting down Eagle standout Brook Sibrian.

“I thought they controlled the outside during the first half,” Soler said. “Putting Natalie outside negated what they were trying to do and looked like it took her [Sibrian] out of sync.”

Los Alamitos scored the go-ahead goal on a penalty kick by Griffin forward Adriana Gjonovich. The senior appeared destined to score when Chaminade defender Nina Coleman fouled her from behind, setting up the penalty try.

“She grabbed my jersey from behind and I knew that I was going to get a penalty shot,” Gjonovich said. “I knew she would be leaning to the right, so I wanted to get the ball to left side and I hit it good enough to go in.

“It was very exciting and something I won’t forget for a long time.”

Chaminade of West Hills, the third-place team from the Mission League, finished its season at 15-5-3,  but the Eagles won only one of their final five matches.

Los Alamitos will meet Corona del Mar (15-3-4), a 1-0 winner over Brea Olinda on Thursday, in a second-round game on Tuesday at a site yet to be determined.