Girls Soccer: Tologs Roll in Round 1

There was minimal drama on the field during Flintridge Sacred Heart’s 5-1 win over Foothill in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division I girls soccer playoffs Thursday afternoon.

Off the field, though, there was plenty. 

For about five minutes during the first half, play was suspended as CIF officials forced the Occidental track team off the track at Patterson Field. Then again at halftime officials held a long conference at midfield with coaches and administrators from both teams to determine how to proceed without any potential controversy.

It was determined that the Westridge track team, which also uses the facilities at Occidental, could practice along the visitors sideline, preventing any possible distraction.

With that it was game on, and the Tologs went back to peppering the Foothill defense with shot after shot. After scoring two goals in the first half, the Tologs added three more after halftime to cruise to a second round matchup next Tuesday against the winner of Thursday’s Northwood-Aliso Niguel matchup.

While the Tologs’ offense eventually caught fire, they showed the rust of a team that hadn’t played in 10 days during the opening minutes of the game.

FSHA looked disorganized on offense and struggled to find a way to create space against a Foothill defensive that occasionally sent nine players back on defense.

“It’s hard to stay in that groove when you haven’t played in 10 days,” Tologs co-coach Frank Pace said. “(Foothill) came out and they matched up pretty well for 25 minutes. We felt that we would ultimately wear them down, and that’s what happened.

"Once we got in a little groove, we did a much better job.”

That’s what happened in the 35th minute, when junior forward Katie Johnson finally got the Tologs (17-1-1) on the board. After coming up empty on previous runs, a deflected ball found Johnson open in front of the goal. Johnson sent a shot into the bottom left corner to give her squad a 1-0 lead and a chance to relax.

“I think that the first goal helped us get the momentum going, actually find each other and settle down then play our own game,” Johnson said. “Sometimes when we just want to score, score, score, everything’s forced in and it’s really like clustered.”

Johnson’s goal didn’t just settle down the Tologs, it ignited the entire offense as Tera Trujillo scored from about 30-yards out in the 40th minute. 

“I think the first was one the one that made us relax,” Pace said. “Then the second one, I think the second one to the kids made the result inevitable.”

But if there was still any lingering doubt as to which squad would prevail, the Tologs slammed the door shut on a potential Foothill comeback early in the second half when Lauren Torres converted a penalty kick to put FSHA up 3-0. 

Senior co-captain Alyssa Conti and junior Katelyn Almeida scored the other two goals for the Tologs.

Junior midfielder Annie McKee scored the lone goal for Foothill (10-11-2).

Though the outcome was never in question Thursday, Johnson said that the Tologs would need to start games faster the deeper they get in the playoffs. A slow start like Thursday's could potentially leave the Tologs in an early hole against tougher competition. 

“I think that we did our job,” Johnson said. “But I think we need to get ready more prepared for the first 15 minutes because if we’re playing a better team, they’re going to come out and score, and we’re going to be down 1-0 and having to come back. We need to be ready in the first 15.”