La Mirada rolls to State Playoff victory over Southwest SD at home

LA MIRADA >> Fresh off of its second consecutive CIF Southe Section Division 4 girls soccer championship, La Mirada kept the momentum rolling Tuesday afteoon with a 3-1 victory at home over Southwest of San Diego to open the CIF State Division IV Regionals.

The top-seeded Matadores (20-5-4) struck immediately with a high, straightaway goal off the foot of senior co-captain Maddie Beett in the first minute. From there, the No. 8 Raiders (12-10-1) never established any sort of rhythm.

“It feels really good,” Beett said. “It’s nice and it feels good to be a senior and start us off good. It meant a lot to start the touament great because I want to finish strong.”

La Mirada controlled time of possession throughout the contest, outshooting Southwest 14-3 and getting back-to-back goals from Lauren Garcia and Gabriella Hurtado in the 32nd and 33rd minutes for a 3-0 advantage. Southwest junior co-captain Chica Rojas netted her squad’s only goal of the afteoon during stoppage time at the end of the first half.

La Mirada head coach Dave Christensen said his team will have to make some adjustments before the next round, but was pleased with the energy it displayed at the begiing of this one, especially with the quick tuaround from Friday night’s Southe Section championship victory.

“It’s a wave of emotion,” he said. “We just won a title and now it’s like we’re starting over and I think we’re a little bit weary. We started with energy and I think we kind of moved into complacency when we were up a few goals and we can’t do that. I’m proud of my girls, it’s been a great year. We play together and sometimes it’s very pretty, sometimes it’s so-so. As long as we’re wiing when it’s so-so, we’re moving ahead and doing well.”

The Matadores will face Oxnard, which defeated Verdugo Hills 8-0 on Tuesday, in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Thursday. La Mirada was defeated in penalty kicks by La Costa Canyon in the semis last season.

“Being here before last year, I realized that it’s all about being fresh,” Christensen said of the rigorous playoff schedule. “Just light practices for the last week and we’ll try to get ready to play Thursday with light stretching, icing and just getting their bodies ready to go.”

Beett said the team will look to pick up the pace a little bit in the next round regardless of its opponent, as it was slowed down a little more than it would have liked on Tuesday.

“Thursday’s definitely a tough game no matter who it is,” she said. “You’ve just got to keep it up and focus on yourself and the team and play as we usually would.”

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