Kenny Cress / Sports Writer | Posted: Sunday, March 7, 2004 12:00 am
FULLERTON 7 In the first half, Walnut near-misses and some good Arroyo Grande defense kept the game scoreless.
In the second, Walnut/s Christina Carriaga and Janessa Currier booted the ball through their windows of opportunity, and the top-ranked Mustangs grabbed a 2-0 victory over the Eagles in the CIF Division III girls championship girls soccer team at Cal State Fullerton Saturday.
Walnut finished 28-1-1. Arroyo Grande, taking its first loss other than four forfeits for inadvertently using an ineligible player, finished 23-5-0.
The Mustangs won the San Antonio League. The Eagles, because of the forfeits, finished second in the PAC-5 League.
"Coming from the Central Coast, we don/t face teams like this until the playoffs," said Arroyo Grande coach Debbie Dorney. "(The Mustangs) play teams like this every day.
"They were very fast and very physical. Mayfair was just as good as they were. They were better than Sunny Hills. (Sunny Hills was) too random," with its passing, Dorney said.
Arroyo Grande edged Mayfair 1-0 on leading scorer Carla Arbulu/s goal in the quarterfinals. The Eagles defeated Sunny Hills 2-1 on two Arbulu goals in the semis. The Eagles were at home both games.
"That home field advantage really helped," said Dorney.
The Mustangs broke through with 26:46 left to play. Kari Currier gave Carriaga a good pass, and Carriaga beat an Arroyo Grande defender and Eagles goal keeper Erika Blecha to the ball. She booted the ball smack into the middle of the net.
Saturday marked the first time this year Blecha allowed two goals in a game.
"Those were the fifth and sixth goals this year," against her team, Dorney said ruefully.
With 23:06 left, Janessa Currier booted a hard left-to-right shot toward the right post that went off Blecha/s hands and into the corner of the net.
Dorney acknowledged that Janessa Currier gave her players problems throughout the game with her playmaking. "(She) just created and created," Dorney said.
Lisa Solz was the Mustang primarily responsible for marking Arbulu, and she and Andrea Fagan kept the dynamic striker in check.
"The problem was, we couldn/t get the ball to her effectively," said Dorney. "We were too strung out. We weren/t pushing up from the back enough, and this is a big field. We weren/t compacting the field enough."
The first half was scoreless thanks to a combination of dame fortune siding with the Eagles, two tough saves by Blecha and good defense by Tawney Lopez, Ruby Trejo and Allie Edgerton.
Rilesha Haynie gave Jennifer Tan a good pass from almost point blank range in front of the Eagles/ goal. But Tan/s foot got on top of the ball, and she flubbed it.
Once Tan was wide open from less than 10 yards away, but her host sailed inches over the top cross bar.
Lopez, Trejo and Edgerton, who was doing a good job in the deep middle, thwarted several deep Mustangs thrust.
"We kept fighting," Dorney said. "Even as the dude (who was the public address announcer) was counting down, we kept fighting. We got off a shot with 40 seconds left."
Division IV Final
Serrano 2, Santa Ynez 2
LA MIRADA 7 After falling behind 2-0 at halftime, the Pirates rallied with two second-half goals to clinch a share of the division title with the Diamondbacks.
Brittany Heringer tied the game in the 65th minute with a goal after Leann Sgobba got the Pirates (21-4-2) with a tally in the 50th minute.
"It may be fitting that we shared the title, because Serrano just dominated the first half," Pirate coach Julie Estabrook said, "while we dominated the second half."
Baseball
Righetti 1-9, Dos Pueblos 2-7
GOLETA 7 After being one-hit in the opener, Righetti (2-1) got solid pitching and a two-run homer from Chris Matthews in a non-league split.
Josh Thomas went 6 2/3 innings for the victory in the 9-7 nightcap, with Devin Lohman coming in for the save by getting the final batter to fly out with the bases loaded.
David Harmon had three hits in the second game, while Lohman and Blaine Wilson had two hits each.
AG 10-8, Lompoc 5-2
ARROYO GRANDE 7 Erik Morrison went a combined 5-for-6 with two RBIs and three runs scored as the Eagles opened their season with a non-league twinbill sweep of the Braves.
Morrison was 2-for-3 with three runs in the opening 10-5 Eagle victory, then had a homer and two RBIs in going 3-for-3 in the 8-2 nightcap.
Josh Gutierrez went the distance in the second game for the eagles, allowing no earned runs on three hits.
Ben Ornelas was 3-for-4 with two homers and three RBIs in the opener.
Santa Ynez 1-0, Carpinteria 1-0
CARPINTERIA 7 Pitching ruled the day in the non-league twinbill split between the Pirates and Warriors, with all four starting pitchers going the distance in extra-inning games.
Jason Lambert scattered nine hits and struck out five in picking up the win for the Pirates in a 1-0, nine-inning win in the opener, in which Colton Toor/s solo homer to lead off the ninth was the only run. Mike Underwood struck out 10 in going the distance for the Warriors in the loss.
Tim Vallejo countered in the eight-inning night cap, striking out four for Carpinteria; Anthony Martin gave up one run on five hits and struck out 11 in the loss for Santa Ynez (2-1).
Softball
Cabrillo Varsity Trny.
VANDENBERG VILLAGE 7 In first-day action, Santa Maria split its two games, falling 3-0 to the host Conquistadores after scoring a 7-5 win over Santa Barbara.
Valerie DeLaSantos, Ivana Robles and Stacy Davis each had two hits in the win over the Dons, with DeLaSantos scoring two runs.
Track and Field
Paso Robles Rotary Relays
PASO ROBLES 7 St. Joseph won the overall title in the boys/ division, using wins in the shuttle hurdles relay, the pole vault, high jump and the 4x800 relay; the Knight boys also scored second-place finishes in the 4x1,600 relay and the distance medley relay.
The quartet of Bryant Luong, Billy Ader, Julio Ortega and Patrick Cusack teamed to claim the win in the 4x800 and taking second in the 4x1,600; Kevin Rodriguez teamed with Luong, Ader and Ortega for a second in the distance medley relay.
Cusack later teamed with Ross Gracia and Anthony Silva to win the high-jump relay, while Gracia, Chris Verbryke and T.J. Puerling teamed for the win in the pole vault.
St. Joseph/s girls finished seventh, highlighted by a third in the 4x1,600.
Wrestling
CIF State Finals
STOCKTON 7 Righetti/s three entries in the state finals fell quickly, with only Jaime Rocha (119 pounds) making it to the second day of competition.
Rocha ended the weekend with a 2-2 mark, reaching the consolation round; Adam Wilson (140) went winless in two matches, while Dustin Monte went 1-2 at 145 pounds.
Volleyball
Ventura Tournament
VENTURA 7 Santa Ynez rolled past the host Cougars in the single-game final of the tournament 25-17, following wins over Dos Pueblos and San Luis Obispo.
The Pirates/ Sutton Clark was named tournament MVP, while Nick and Nate Urton were all-tournament picks.
March 7, 2004