When the final whistle blew ending Wednesday’s City Section Division I quarterfinal game against San Pedro at Stadium by the Sea, a feeling of deja’ vu overcame Palisades High girls soccer head coach Christian Chambers.
The contest was eerily similar to last season’s equally tense quarterfinal matchup against Bell on the same field and, once again, the Dolphins wound up on the short end of a 1-0 score and out of the playoffs.
“The girls worked their socks off the whole second half — that was as good a 40 minutes as we’ve played all year,” said Chambers, who once again was mystified by several non-calls that appeared to be fouls in the closing minutes. “Last year we scored two legitimate goals that were disallowed, but this was even worse. I counted three blatant penalties that should’ve been free kicks and I have to think we’d have scored on at least two. It’s hard to take when the refs play such a big part in the outcome, but I’m proud of my team.”
The fourth-seeded Dolphins (13-3-2) dominated the final 70 minutes but couldn’t convert on numerous scoring chances. All-City senior forward Kaitlyn Parcell woke up with the flu and almost didn’t play, but nearly willed her team to victory, barely missing on a breakaway in the first half and banging a shot off the crossbar midway through the second.
“Kaitlyn wasn’t close to 100 percent,” Chambers said of his star player, a Santa Clara signee. “My plan was to play her about 20 minutes but sick as she was she wouldn’t come out.”
Frankie Van Norden, Jite Agege and Jordan Darrow all had chances in the box and Ashley Conte had two shots blocked in the final frenzied seconds in front of San Pedro’s goal.
A miscommunication in Palisades’ back line allowed Samantha Martinez to slip through a seam and one-time a pass from Sydney Engel into the twine in the eighth minute and put the visiting Pirates ahead. It was only the second goal allowed all season by Dolphins goalie Katie Wilkes.
“If it wasn’t for our teamwork it wouldn’t have happened,” Martinez said. “Sydney gave me a nice through ball at the top of the 18 and I struck it pretty well on the top of my laces so I thought it had a good chance of going in.”
Fifth-seeded San Pedro improved to 20-2-2 and earned a rematch on Tuesday against top-seeded Taft, which beat the Pirates in a nonleague game in December. At stake is a spot in the championship game March 5 against the winner of the other semifinal between No. 2 El Camino Real and No. 6 Bell.
— Steve Galluzzo
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