Girls Soccer: Young Spartans Peaking At the Right Time

La Cañada girls soccer coach Louie Bilowitz has never had a more inexperienced squad than this year’s group of Spartans. And thus, Bilowitz doesn’t have the slightest clue on what to expect from his squad when the Spartans host Santiago (Garden Grove) on Thursday at 3 p.m. in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division VI playoffs. 

“I have no idea how well do — we start five freshmen. I have no idea how the pressure of the CIF playoffs will affect them,” Bilowitz said Wednesday. “I’ve never had a team this young. When half the team is freshmen, you don’t know how they’ll react and play on the field.”

La Cañada starts three freshmen on the defensive line (Carly Post, Kate Wagner and Olivia Leyva) and two in the midfield (Brianna Albarian and Miranda Dimase-Nordling).

Adding to the uncertainty is that despite being Rio Hondo League champions, La Cañada did not draw an easy opening match. Santiago (5-8-3) finished in third place in the tough Garden Grove League. If the sixth-ranked Spartans advance past Santiago, they potentially could face the GGL’s second-seeded team, Tahquitz, ranked ninth in the division.

“We’re not getting a patsy,” Bilowitz said. “It’s not an easy draw.”

But if there’s one thing that Bilowitz can hang his hat on, it’s that the Spartans seem to be peaking at the most important time of the season. Since their 2-1 loss at San Marino on Feb. 2, the Spartans have outscored opponents 16-1 in three wins. La Cañada (12-5-1) beat South Pasadena 2-0 on Feb. 4 in a game that featured the first two goals allowed by the Tigers in a league match.

Bilowitz said that he instituted a few new things to the offense the day after his club’s loss at San Marino. The Spartans worked on speeding up their transition offense so that their forwards wouldn’t get whistled offside on counter attacks.

“Now we’ve worked on a very quick transition: How to do it, and when to do it,” he said. “I could see there’s a lot more explosion (in the offense) now.”

Bilowitz added: “Now we’re ready to play, we’re physically ready to play. I think we’re at a higher level than we’ve been. Since the last week, we’ve taken it to a different level.”

One thing that could derail the Spartans’ new-and-improved offense, though, is something complete beyond La Cañada’s control. It's something unrelated to whatever defensive tactic Santiago deploys Thursday. That something is the weather.

A rain soaked field at La Cañada could potentially slow down the Spartans’ high-octane transition attack.

“Hope it doesn’t rain,” Bilowitz said. “The strength of the team is speed on top. We’ve changed our game to basically utilize that as our main attack weapon — I just don’t want nature to take that away from us.”

Tigers and Titans also in action for Rio Hondo League

The No. 8 Tigers host Pomona Catholic (Freelance) in Div. VI first round action on Thursday. Pomona Catholic (13-7-3) enters the playoffs on an 11-game winning streak, but faces a Tigers squad that finished second in the Rio Hondo League with a 7-1-2 record (11-6-5 overall).

San Marino has a tough challenge Thursday at Los Amigos, which won the Garden Grove League with a 9-0-1 record. The Titans are a dangerous squad who's won four straight and boasts plenty of individual talent. San Marino is led by Saint Mary’s-bound Annie Wenzlau, sophomore Hope Welder and freshman Hayley Thompson.

Both games begin at 3 p.m.