Girls’ Soccer Clinches League Title

It’s all over but the shouting in the Western League girls’ soccer race. Palisades clinched the outright championship with a 3-0 victory over University last Friday in West L.A. Now, the Dolphins can set their sights on a bigger prize–the City championship. Heading into Wednesday’s home game against last-place LACES (result undetermined at press time), the Dolphins (12-3 overall, 10-0 in league) had won six in a row and nine of their last 10. Palisades had also outscored its league opponents by a whopping 46-3 margin. Leading the way are junior Erin Newman (12 goals and two assists), senior Kelly Mickel (nine goals and five assists), freshman Kathryn Gaskin (eight goals and four assists) and sophomore Emma Carter (seven goals and four assists). Goalies Allison Kappeyne and Kiki Bailey have combined for seven shutouts and just 12 goals allowed this season. Palisades and University met in the City Invitational finals last winter at East L.A. College with the Dolphins prevailing, 2-1, on Mickel’s late penalty kick. Last Friday’s game was not nearly as close. Palisades dominated from start to finish, with Gaskin scoring twice and Newman once. Carter had two assists and Mickel the other for Coach Kim Smith’s crew, which led 1-0 at halftime. Kappeyne and Bailey each played one half, with Kappeyne making seven saves and Bailey four. Freshman midfielder Meredith Kornfiend took a team-high seven shots and Newman had six. All of Palisades’ losses were in tournaments to Southern Section teams and therefore shouldn’t hurt the Dolphins’ playoff seeding. Palisades wraps up its regular season Friday against sixth-place Westchester. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Stadium by the Sea. Boys Soccer While the girls are gearing up for the postseason, Palisades’ boys are in danger of missing the playoffs altogether. The Dolphins likely need to win their final two games against Westchester (Wednesday) and Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies (Friday). Palisades (3-5-3 overall, 3-3-3 in league) is still in contention after a 3-2 victory at fourth-place Hamilton last Wednesday and a 2-2 tie against second-place University Friday at Stadium by the Sea. With victories over sixth-place Westchester and last-place LACES, the Dolphins could finish as high as third place in league, which would be enough to secure a berth in the 32-team City tournament.