Sometimes it’s better to give than receive.
That is the approach Palisades High girls soccer player Kaitlyn Parcell took in the early stages of last Friday’s City Section Division I playoff opener at Stadium by the Sea.
Parcell sent a well-placed pass to the front of the net and teammate Elizabeth Goodman scored in the fourth minute, setting the tone for the Dolphins’ 4-0 victory over Narbonne.
Rich Schmitt/Staff Photographer
“KP is so good getting down the line, I was in the right place at the right time and we got one early, which is what we wanted to do,” Goodman said. “We’ve been working on our finishing and it was really important to score in the first 15 minutes because they’re a good team.”
Lulu Adams scored several minutes later, then Parcell switched to attack mode and scored twice in the span of a minute – the first from 20 yards out – to double the lead late in the first half.
“I was so happy for Elizabeth because it was her first [goal] of the season and she deserves it,” Parcell said. “We were a little bummed that we didn’t get the No. 2 seed but it was good to play a quality opponent to prepare us for the next round.”
The third-seeded Dolphins (14-1) host sixth-seeded Bell (15-3-1) in the quarterfinals at 3 p.m. Friday.
“They were a good team – they’re ball movement was good, they had good control and they had some skilled players,” Palisades Coach Christian Chambers said of the 14th-seeded Gauchos. “We were trying to score in the first 10 to 15 minutes of the second half and after that I wanted to get everyone into the game. We have five goalies all pushing each other and we can play any of them.”
If victorious tomorrow the Dolphins will either travel to second-seeded Granada Hills or host No. 7 Van Nuys in the semifinals next Tuesday. The championship game is Saturday, March 7 at Valley College in Valley Glen.
Palisades went undefeated in the Western League and was seeded behind West Valley League co-champions El Camino Real and Granada Hills. The Dolphins lost to Granada Hills in a shootout in last year’s City final.
“The goal all along is to get back there, but we’re not lloking that far ahead,” Chambers said.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
