Lions' share
OCHS girls' soccer team splits Division V title with Valley Christian
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers ALL EVEN- Oaks Christian freshman Lauren Lindstrom, left, tries to win the ball from Valley Christian's Kathryn Park during Saturday's CIF-SS Division V final. The teams played to a 0-0 draw.

Locked into a defensive battle Saturday afternoon in the CIFSouthern Section Division V girls' soccer championship, Oaks Christian freshman Lauren Lindstrom saved the Lions from suffering their first defeat in four trips to the title game.

In the 68th minute of a scoreless tie at Allen Layne Stadium on the campus of Downey High School, Valley Christian's Hayley Haagsma broke free from the Oaks Christian defense and fired a shot at OCHS sophomore goalkeeper Noelle Salter. The ball caromed off Salter's hands and sat unattended in front of the Lion goal.

A split second before Valley Christian could get to the loose ball and put it in the back of the net, Lindstrom cleared it out of harm's way. Lindstrom's headsup play helped preserve the 0-0 draw and ultimately led to a cochampionship for the Lions, the team's fourth shared title in the last five years.

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers CIF CHAMPS- Oaks Christian players and coaches pose with the CIF-SS championship plaque following Saturday's 0-0 draw against Valley Christian in the Division V championship game.

"At first I thought, 'Oh my gosh, it's going in,'" Lindstrom said. "But I just kept going, because I knew if I cleared it my team would be there to get the ball."

For Oaks Christian head coach Jan Hethcock, walking away with a piece of the championship was nothing new. Hethcock led the Lions to cotitles in 2003, 2004 and 2005. The split in '05 also came against Valley Christian.

"I told the girls that we are champions- we didn't lose," Hethcock said. "Our kids played well, and Valley Christian has a good team. There's no shame in tying at this level. I wish we could go to a shootout, but they just don't do that."

Although the CIF-SS plays overtime during the postseason in both boys' and girls' soccer, the rules are not the same for the championship games.

In the title matches, when the clock runs out the game is over. There is no extra time, and the match does not go to a shootout. When a game ends in a draw, the teams share the championship, as has been the case in the previous six Division V girls' title matches.

Following Saturday's final whistle, there was a coin-flip at midfield to determine which team would keep the winner's plaque. Valley Christian won the toss and went home with the hardware. An identical plaque will be mailed to Oaks Christian in the coming weeks. The Lions left the field with championship T-shirts and patches.

While the end result may have been familiar for Oaks Christian (16-6-2), the team's path to the championship was anything but customary.

Typically a top seed in the tournament, OCHS, who lost its best offensive player, Nicole Sweetman, to a knee injury early in the year, entered as a wild-card team after finishing fourth in the Tri-Valley League.

The Lions got hot at just the right time, winning five consecutive postseason games, including a 71 whitewashing of Bell Gardens in the second round.

Hethcock said competing as a wild card allowed his squad to play free and easy throughout the playoffs.

"Every year, we were the team to beat," Hethcock said.

"That's a lot of pressure to put on kids constantly, year after year after year. This time the kids were pretty relaxed, and I'm really proud of them."

Oaks Christian will graduate only five seniors- Sweetman, Casey DaSilva, Emily Blumenthal, Caroline Cislo and Melissa Dahl- so the possibility of the Lions returning to the title game next year is very real, Hethcock said.

"We're young," he said. "We're going to be back."