GIRLS SOCCER: South Torrance prevails in physical Harbor Cup final with City power.
By Tony Ciniglio
Staff Writer
In a match that was getting chippier by the minute, the South Torrance girls soccer team tried its best to maintain its composure.
Even when El Camino Real’s Lexi Rice shoved star forward Tori Cooper to the ground with a two-handed shove to the back, the Spartans did not lose their temper. Instead, Lizzy Esquivel lined up to take the free kick. The senior co-captain sent the ball fluttering through the air and into the goal.
It might as well have been a dagger.
Esquivel’s goal served as an emphatic answer to El Camino Real’s physical play and capped South’s 3-1 win Tuesday in the Harbor Cup final.
“Oh, man, did that goal feel good,” Esquivel said. “They were pretty physical, but we were physical back. After every foul, it made us want to win more. It gave us more adrenaline, more fire.
“We just needed to seal the deal.”
Esquivel inherited the role of taking South’s free kicks from Hali Oughton, who is now at East Carolina. She continued to thrive in that role.
Esquivel’s goal came with four minutes left in the match. “That was a great shot by her,” Coach Brad Gomez said. “She’s doing a good job after Hali left.”
Cooper, a flashy scorer, showed her toughness on the tiebreaking goal in the 58th minute when she overpowered four El Camino Real defenders and pushed Esquivel’s corner kick into the goal.
“There were a lot of girls there, but I saw the ball and just charged through,” Cooper said. “I just wanted to get the ball into the goal.”
El Camino Real (4-5-1), a perpetual contender for the L.A. City Section title, had played in the Mater Dei Tournament and was battle-tested. But South (8-4-1) won its first tournament of the season after a fourth-place finish in its own tournament.
“This was a quality win in a final against a quality team,” Gomez said.
El Camino Real took a 1-0 lead in the first half when Nikki Berry headed in Jackie Altschulde’s free kick.
Yet South’s center midfielder Cristin Yoern continued her scoring binge with a nice left-footed blast six minutes later.
It was the fifth goal of the tournament for Yoern, who normally is more of a facilitator.
“It was an exciting feeling, from not being much of a scorer to five goals in one tournament,” said Yoern, an all-tournament pick with Cooper. “It’s nice to win a tournament. And I like how we kept our cool.”
South beat Garfield, 8-0, earlier in the day to win its pool and advance to the final. Yoern and Kailyn Provin each scored two goals. MacKenzie Kirts, Amanda Whittle, Sarah Miller and Brittany Peacock also scored goals.
tony.ciniglio@dailybreeze.com