The results at Long Beach Poly and Lakewood on Thursday pushed the top of the Moore League girls’ soccer standings away from the chase pack.
LB Poly 1, Wilson 1
After a relatively uneventful first half, Poly senior Allanah Cutler put the home team ahead in the 42nd minute before Wilson junior Kristin Berry equalized in the 53rd minute as the two old rivals shared the spoils.
“This is what I expect with any game against Wilson or Millikan,” Poly coach Anthony Perez said. “It’s always going to be a tight battle. I expressed to my team that they had to be tighter on the pressure zones to create the 1-v-1 action.”
The Jackrabbits were the better team for most of the afternoon, and outshot the Bruins 11-6. Poly junior Ania Cutler had six of her team’s shots with four on frame. Her sister, Allanah, was at the back post to chest home the opening goal off of a Morgan King corner kick.
“We both definitely played more like ourselves,” Cutler said in reference to the first meeting in December when Poly came back for a 3-2 win on the road. “We were both a little frantic the first time we played.”
Wilson only put two shots on goal in the game, but the second attempt ended up in the back of the net when Berry finished a nice through ball from sophomore Sam Thompson.
“Last time we wanted to be more aggressive but losing so many seniors kind of threw us off our game a little bit,” Berry said of the loss to Poly. “We’re used to having bigger and more physical senior leaders. This game we pushed up more and played more of our style. I just wish we could’ve scored another one.”
The win in December was Poly’s first over Wilson in the last six meetings, but the Jackrabbits are currently even with first-place Millikan, and the two are set to play a possible championship game next week. Wilson is third and trying to win its third consecutive league title.
“They came out with their usual vigor and athleticism and intensity,” Wilson coach Dalton Kaufman said. “We struggled to match that in the first half. In the second half we came out a lot stronger, but Poly does such a good job disrupting that it’s tough to get possession and shots on goal when we’re not winning the midfield.”
Poly had all but one scoring chance in the final minutes, and forced Wilson sophomore goalkeeper Daniella Uchio into making five saves.
Millikan 2, Lakewood 0
The Rams stayed in first place with a game in hand thanks to goals from Alyssa Moran and Azalia Salazar. The Millikan defense collected its 13th shutout of the season, and the Rams have only allowed one league goal. Sophomore goalkeepers Isabella Meyer and Savanna Alba split time.
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Jordan 2, Compton 0
The Panthers got goals from Savanna Arreola and Liliana Villasenor.
STANDINGS
Millikan – 25 Points (8-0-1)
Poly – 25 Points (8-1-1)
Wilson – 18 Points (5-1-3)
Lakewood – 16 Points (5-5-1)
Cabrillo – 10 Points (3-6-1)
Jordan – 7 Points (2-7-1)
Compton – 0 Points (0-11-1)
SCHEDULE
Monday
Wilson at Millikan
Tuesday
Millikan at Compton, Poly at Cabrillo, Jordan at Wilson
Thursday
Poly at Millikan, Cabrillo at Wilson, Lakewood at Jordan
