Westlake earns 3-0 win vs. Oak Park in soccer

Westlake earns 3-0 win vs. Oak Park in soccer

WINNERS OF A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP (AGAIN)-The Oak Park girls' cross country team has won a third consecutive state championship. This year's team includes, back row (from left to right): Coach Jodi Fabrizio, Kelly Yahr, Katie Hudson, Ali Banks, Lauren Morales, Deirdre Coleman and Coach J.J. Castner. Front row (from left to right): Head coach Kevin Smith, Hailey Swartz, Kelsey Connor, Coach Gloria Rios, Ashley Stalzer, Tatiana Camacho and Coach Donna Connor.

By Steve Ames

Special to The Acorn

It’s more than a game when the girls’ soccer teams of Westlake and Oak Park high schools play. It’s the continuation of friendship.

The most recent renewal of the friendship was last Friday, and Westlake was the game’s winner, 3-0, over the host Eagles.Both are California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) 002-03 defending champions.

"We play each other every year, and it’s one of the most exciting games," said Warrior head coach Frank Marino. "We’re less than 10 minutes apart. They are a little bit smaller school than we are, but it’s always a good game. Last year we were 21-0-1, the one tie being against Oak Park that went on to win CIF.

"It’s a great school, they’ve got a great coach and they play so hard every time we play them. It’s just great competition for us every year because there’s a lot of friends amongst them. It’s a good thing for the school and for the area."

His counterpart concurred.

"You saw a lot of them talking to the other girls because yes, they’ve played together in club," said Eagle head coach Ted Eggleston, whose 2002-03 team finished 20-1-3. "It’s not like a rivalry, it’s a friendship."

Last season, Westlake defeated Valencia, 2-0, to win the school’s first girls’ soccer Southern Section Division II championship, and Oak Park tied Oaks Christian, 1-1, for the Southern Section Division V title.

In last week’s match, the Warriors got the early edge over the Eagles as senior midfielder Nicole Remmenga scored the first goal on an assist by sophomore midfielder/forward Ericka Baer in the 30th minute.

Freshman midfielder Kate Edwards scored the second goal in the 60th minute on an assist by Michelle Larson. Freshman mid-fielder Kiley Kemp scored the third goal in the 70th minute as freshman midfielder Kylie MacDonald was credited with the assist.

Four starters for Oak Park four starters were injured and didn’t play against Westlake: freshman midfielder Vera Eastman, sophomore Doyle Brodkin, junior defender Roxana Sadeghi and senior midfielder Elyse Rosenberg.

Eggleston, whose team’s record is 3-3-2, said Oak Park depends on its back line.

"Having Roxana Sadeghi out hurts a lot because she’s our left back, although (sophomore defenseman) Megan Rauch has gone in and done a great job—but normally she’d be playing somewhere else."

The Eagles have a new goalie, sophomore Nikki Wallen who’s learning her position. "Every-thing’s going to be very good," said Eggletson, "but she’s learning, so we’re still working out lots of bugs."

Oak Park also has four freshmen—goalkeeper Brooke Man-dell, defender Kristie Lincoln, midfielder Vera Eastman and midfielder Ali Leko. "We think a lot of them," the coach said.

Eggleston said he’s happy to have junior forward Sammy Stoll up front and senior Daniela Spiegel playing center midfielder.

"We still have a nice core," he said. "We just have to get everybody healthy, everybody well. We played two games with one sub against Royal and one sub (against Westlake), but we had to take (Leko, who started) out with a bad back.

"She wrenched her back a little while ago and she played with it against Royal with a lot of pain, and against Westlake, we just had to take her out."

So far, the Warriors are 4-0-1, the tie coming against El Camino, the city section champion last year. "El Camino is a good team, we played real well in that game," Marino said.

Overall, he said, Westlake is doing very well. "We’re very young," Marino said. "We have a lot of new faces. We lost seven players from last year and there’s a lot of pressure. And they (Oak Park) lost about the same. There’s a lot of pressure when you’ve won CIF the last year."

Every time a champion plays, he said, the opponent makes a special effort to win.

"If I was on the other side, it would be the same thing," Marino said. "That’s the game you want the most. You want a chance to beat those guys. For us, it’s going to be tough. We’re going to have to expect that every single game we play."

Warrior senior forward Ashley Jones, a four-year varsity starter, did not play in the Oak Park game. "She was the leading scorer for our team last year, so obviously we have big things expected from her," her coach said.

In addition to Jones, Marino said he’s counting on Remmenga, a four-year varsity starter; freshman midfielder and forward Kate Edwards, McDonald and senior defender Melinda Lowry, starting on varsity third year.

"Those are the kind of the core of leaders from where we start," the coach said.

Eggleston said he and his coaches are learning as he’s starting new players early in the season. For junior forward Tati Camacho, the Westlake game was her first practice back after finishing 10th in the state in cross country meet.

"But," her coach said, "she kind of hurt her hip and so we’re trying to give her a little bit more (time off), but we had nobody else. This is the first time she’s touched a soccer ball since the summer. She played the whole game. (She’s in shape, but) it was a different kind of shape."