Girls Soccer: Late Goal Lifts Bishop Over La Salle

In a hard fought defensive battle, Bishop Amat scored a fortuitous goal in the 74th minute on a deflected free kick to topple the La Salle girls soccer team 1-0 on Thursday. The Bishop Amat victory completes a perfect record for the Lancers in the Del Ray League while La Salle finishes in third place.

“I think that it’s a good sign that we hung with this team until the end,” La Salle coach Edgar Manvelyan said. “They’re the top team in the division so I think we stand a good chance in playoffs.”

As a third-seeded team La Salle will face a first place team in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section playoffs next week. The Lancers will learn their opponent on Monday.

Although time of possession was played fairly evenly throughout the game, Bishop Amat (22-1, 8-0 in the Del Rey League) produced several more shots on goal. Tough defense by sweeper Lori Cuerington and numerous saves by goalkeeper Rey Cassidy foiled Bishop’s scoring opportunities time and time again.

In the 17th minute, Bishop’s April Juarez made a cross into La Salle’s penalty box. Chelsea Villegas made a shot that bounced wide of the goal, but the referee called a handball on the Lancers and awarded a penalty shot to Bishop. It was unclear who committed the handball.

Villegas took the penalty kick and sent a shot to the lower left corner, but Cassidy made an incredible diving stop to keep the game tied at zero.

“She gave herself away,” said Cassidy. “I could see her line it to the left with her body and was able to dive and stop it.”

La Salle’s scoring opportunities came few and far between, but in the 36th minute, Samantha Whitehead was able to beat a defender down the line and crossed the ball to Ally Puga, whose shot went just wide.

“We need our forwards to hold the ball and allow the midfield to catch up,” said Manvelyan. “We had trouble maintaining possession.”

Bishop Amat controlled the ball for most of the second half. La Salle’s Taylor Mediano thwarted many breakaways in the middle of the field, but her tough, physical play also led to several free kicks for Bishop.

In the 57th minute, Villegas took a free kick near midfield that bounced off a crowd of players. Demi Lomeli cracked a hard shot, but Cuerington leapt in front from close range and headed the ball away.

In the 68th minute, Juarez managed to beat Cuerington on the dribble and crossed the ball to Joni Gener, who shot the ball past the outstretched arms of Cassidy. But the ball hit the goal post and bounced across the goal line before being tapped away by Cuerington.

After surviving countless close calls, another handball did the Lancers (11-8-3, 3-4-1) in. With just six minutes remaining, Whitney Tashiro was whistled for an inadvertent handball just outside La Salle’s penalty box.

Juarez kicked a low shot and the ball deflected the La Salle wall. Cassidy had already left her feet and the ball’s new trajectory flew right under her for a game-winning goal.

“We had the wall in the right spot,” said Cassidy. “Our defender spun and it bounced off her at a weird angle.”