It was one of those goals that brings a smile to a coach’s face, scored just like it was drawn up on the chalkboard.
Three passes and the ball’s in the back of net.
The Dos Pueblos girls soccer team had coach Molly Imel grinning from ear to ear on Wednesday, as the Chargers put together a textbook sequence for the eventual winning goal in a 2-0 victory over West Torrance in a CIF Division 1 wild-card playoff match at Scott O’Leary Stadium.
The victory, DP’s first in the postseason since 2007, sends the Chargers (11-8-6) into a first-round matchup on Friday at second-seeded and two-time defending CIF champion San Clemente. West Torrance, an at-large team from the Bay League, finished at 10-11-4.
Dos Pueblos' Claire Mathews controls the ball during Wednesday's CIF wild-card victory for the Chargers.
The Chargers had ample opportunities to put West Torrance away early. They got off 13 shots in the first half, but they were either foiled by goalkeeper Amanda Ornelas or the bumpy ground in front of the goal.
It all came together for DP in the 63rd minute, and it was a thing of beauty for the team, the coaching staff and the fans to see.
The play started with Marina Plesons sending a diagonal pass to Brandie Harris at the top of the 18-yard box. Harris proceeded to knock the ball out wide left to Maria Solis and then bolted for the far post. Solis took one dribble and hit a low, left-footed cross that Harris buried for a 1-0 lead.
Harris also had a hand in the second goal. She took a short throw-in on the left side, and ripped a 25-yard shot that Ornelas couldn’t hold onto. Michelle Gee rushed in and rammed home the rebound for a 2-0 DP lead in the 76th minute.
Except for a couple of scary moments in the final minute, it was a solid performance by the Chargers in their playoff opener.
“I’m thrilled,” said coach Molly Imel, whose team has outscored its last three opponents 10-0. “I wasn’t ready to say we were peaking (last week), but I would definitely say we are peaking now. What is really nice is we are, for the most part, healthy. Things are really coming together for us. Repetition is paying off and the girls want it. I’m just so proud of them.
“Everything is coming together from what we push, from a character standpoint to a training standpoint to a teammate standpoint to what we produce on the field and parlay into a good clean game.”
In addition to it being the CIF opener, there was an added significance to Wednesday’s game. It was being played on the day teammate and friend Lindsay Rose would have turned 16 years old. Rose died last April in a surfing accident at Sands Beach.
The team dedicated the game to Rose and came through for her.
“That’s pretty huge for us,” said Imel.
“Her vibe and energy was infectious,” said Shannon Brown of her friend. “She had a great sense of humor and she was an amazing athlete.”
Imel is pleased how her players are stepping at the right time of the year. She liked seeing new varsity additions like Maria Solis and Jamie Benedetto making an impact in the attack with timely runs.
“We’ve really been working on our outside backs getting involved in the attack,” Imel said. “That’s been a big thing for us because we tend to play a little timid, a little bit on our heels. So we’re really getting a lot more confidence and moving weight forward and looking to attack and attack in numbers.”
She said the Chargers succeeded in a three-phase attack plan: applying high pressure in the early going to try and rattle the Warriors, settling down and playing more composed and then pumping in balls from the flanks.
“We just followed everything. I’m so proud of them,” Imel said. “They followed the game plan to a tee, as well as our characteristic breakdown at the end. That is definitely one of our weaknesses.”
West Torrance created a couple of quality scoring chances in the final two minutes but misfired on its shots.
That helped goalkeeper Meagan Bellefeuille notch her 12th shutout of the season.
