Eagles Hold Their Own Against Cougars

Second-ranked Santa Margarita’s young guns bolted to a two-goal lead, then hung for dear life and escaped with a 3-3 tie against top-ranked Capistrano Valley in girls’ soccer Tuesday at Santa Margarita High.

Capistrano Valley (1-0-1) fell behind, 3-1, at halftime, but outshot Santa Margarita, 10-2, in the second half and got penalty-kick goals from senior forward Chandra King in the 58th minute and sophomore midfielder Kristen Moore in the 72nd minute.

“There’s a reason they’re No. 1: They have talent,” Santa Margarita Coach Chuck Morales said. “We’ll take the tie. Our girls learned they can play against a really good team.”

Capistrano Valley played on its heels in the first half as Santa Margarita (1-0-1), which has only three seniors on its roster, bolted to a 3-1 lead behind goals by sophomores Jenny Anderson and Carolyn Staples and junior Liz Bartlett. Capistrano Valley’s only goal came in the 30th minute on an indirect kick by Moore.

Capistrano Valley Coach Jack Peterson said he was not surprised by his team’s lethargic first half.

“I was really anxious all week,” he said. “I didn’t think we were mentally there in the first half. They came up against a team with a lot of firepower and youth. I think they were too young to be afraid. They took it to us and taught us a lesson.”

But in the second half, Capistrano Valley’s experienced players seemed to do most of the teaching. They were quicker to the ball, more aggressive and more focused. King’s penalty kick came after Lindsay Greco was pushed from behind in the penalty box. Moore’s game-tying penalty kick resulted from an obstruction call against King.

“We were scrambling,” Morales said. “They had a lot of off-the-ball runs that confused us.”

Said Peterson: “There was no panic in our kids. We battled and we were blessed with a few calls.”