Dolphins Extend Shutout Streak

It’s hard to lose when you don’t give up any goals. That has been the philosophy of the Palisades High women’s soccer team, which allowed 10–that’s right, 10 measly goals all season. Two rounds into the City Section playoffs, the Dolphins’ goals against had not changed–a big reason why Palisades is one of eight teams still alive in the championship bracket. “As a team we set certain goals for ourselves before the season started and one of them was to get a shutout every game,” sophomore striker Katherine Gaskin said. “We take just as much pride in blanking the other team as we do in scoring a lot of goals.” The Dolphins have been doing both with regularity and the numbers are getting downright ridiculous. Palisades has not allowed a goal in its last 10 games–equating to well over 800 minutes of clock time–and has scored 69 goals over that same span. In the first round last Wednesday night Palisades took on L.A. Marshall at Stadium by the Sea and the host Dolphins turned the lights out early against the 29th-seeded Barristers, scoring four times in the first half on their way to a 7-0 win. Gaskin netted two goals and added one assist, Katie van Daalen Wetters added two goals and Natasha Burks, Melissa Tallis and Leslie Ota each added a goal. Estafania Yanez-Ceballos had three assists as the Dolphins racked up 32 shots. On Friday afternoon, 13th-seeded Eagle Rock was supposed to be a much sterner test. Indeed, the Eagles hung tough for the first half until Samantha Elander scored on a rebound in the 39th minute to give the Dolphins a 1-0 lead. The final 40 minutes, however, was all Palisades. Elander scored again and Gaskin, Tiffany Falk, Erika Martin and Meredith Kornfeind each added goals as the Dolphins turned what had been a tight game into another rout. The fourth-seeded Dolphins (16-2-4) hosted fifth-seeded Granada Hills in the quarterfinals yesterday (result unavailable at press time). If victorious, Palisades will either travel to top-seeded El Camino Real or host sixth-seeded Cleveland in the semifinals on Monday. Boys Basketball Perhaps no gym in the City Section is tougher to win in than Fremont’s, as the Dolphins discovered last Thursday night in the first round of the City Division I playoffs. Of course, Coach James Paleno’s young squad had grown accustomed to playing in hostile environments–having come within a shot of upsetting Fairfax on its home court earlier in the season. This time, however, the Dolphins were unable to take the home crowd out of the game in a 61-46 loss that ended their season. Four Pathfinders scored in double figures, led by senior guard Ryan Smith, who had 12 points. Palisades finished the season 17-13. Girls Basketball Despite a heroic effort by senior center Dominique Scott (29 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists, four steals and four blocks) Palisades lost to Dorsey, 72-70, in overtime in the first round of the City Division I playoffs. Palisades (17-11) led by 10 points in the second quarter but the host Dons had pulled even by halftime. Scott made a spinning layup at the buzzer to force overtime and almost sent the game into double overtime–her rebound shot going in and out. “If this was her last game in a Palisades uniform this is the way to go out,” Coach Torino Johnson said of Scott. “I’m proud of the way all the seniors played. They gave me their all and that’s why they were all on the floor at the end.” Boys Soccer Palisades found itself back in the playoffs after being left out of last year’s tournament but their stay lasted only 80 minutes. The #23-seeded Dolphins were handed a 6-0 loss at the hands of 10th-seeded Bell last Thursday afternoon and Coach David Suarez wasn’t happy about his team’s seed or its performance. “I thought we should’ve been seeded in the 17 to 19 range and Bell had a strong case for a five or six seed,” Suarez said. “We should’ve gone ahead of [No. 13] Hamilton because we finished ahead of them in league. Regardless, though, we didn’t play our best game today and Bell did.” The Eagles led 3-0 at halftime, then put the game away with a goal less than 30 seconds into the second half. Palisades finished 9-4-1. For complete playoff brackets in each sport, visit the L.A. City Section Web site at www.cif-la.org.