Soccer Season Kicks Off for Pali High Boys and Girls Teams

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

The Palisades Charter High School boys and girls soccer teams opened the season in similar fashion after each ended last season with a defeat to El Camino Real in the semifinals of the City Division I playoffs.

The boys, coached by Pali High alum Marvin Lemus, posted an 8-0-3 record in Western League competition last fall to finish in first place. They earned the seventh seed in the 16-team Division I bracket, and beat No. 10 Granada Hills and No. 2 Chavez by 1-0 scores before losing to ECR on penalty kicks following a 0-0 draw in regulation. They advanced to the SoCal Regional Division III tournament and upset No. 2 Los Alamitos 1-0 before falling to No. 3 El Dorado in the semifinals.

On November 27, senior Jayce Jones scored three times and Jesse Altaminaro added a goal in the Dolphins’ season-opening 4-0 shutout of LA Wilson. Two days later, Palisades hosted Venice in its Western League opener, and the teams played to a 0-0 draw.

On December 1, the Dolphins traveled to Fairfax and again tied 0-0. On Monday, December 4, the Dolphins suffered a 3-0 intersectional loss at Oak Park.

They resumed league action Wednesday, December 6, at Hamilton and host Westchester this Friday, December 8, at 3 p.m.

They travel to Hawkins High for the South East Winter Classic December 28 to 30 when they will take on Animo Robinson, Bravo Medical and tournament host Hawkins in pool play.

Also on the slate are nonleague home games versus Taft (December 20 at 4 p.m.); Chavez (January 4, 2024, at 4 p.m.); Locke (January 8, 2024, at 4:30 p.m.) and Animo Leadership (January 17, 2024, at 5:30 p.m.).

Key returners are Jones (who scored a team-high 11 goals last winter), Altaminaro (seven goals, four assists a year ago). Palisades lost 14 players to graduation, including All-City midfielders Not Badener and Josh McCowan. Birmingham is the reigning Division I champion.

On the girls side, head coach Christian Chambers is happy to have two All-City players back in senior goalkeeper Jacinda Hevesy-Rodriguez (10 shutouts and 13 wins in 16 games) and senior midfielder Alex Digenarro (six goals, seven assists last season). Nine players graduated, among them scoring leader Alaina Porter (20 goals, seven assists last winter) but also returning is Erica Hamilton, who tallied 18 goals and five assists last year.

Palisades opened the season with a 2-2 tie versus Marymount on November 27 (Hamilton scored both goals), then drew with Venice 0-0 on the road in its Western League opener. Eleven different girls scored in a 12-0 rout of Fairfax on December 1, and on Monday, December 4, the Dolphins edged host Cleveland 2-1 in nonleague play thanks to a goal by Hamilton and two assists by midfielder Caroline Quigley.

The Dolphins played league rival Hamilton on Wednesday, December 6, host Wiseburn-DaVinci of El Segundo in intersectional action at 5 p.m. Thursday, December 7, and return to league competition Friday, December 8, at Stadium by the Sea at 4:30 p.m. against Westchester.

The schedule also features nonleague home contests against Windward (January 3, 2024, at 5 p.m.); San Pedro (January 5, 2024, at 5 p.m.); defending City Division I champion ECR (January 6, 2024, at 6 p.m.); Birmingham (January 20, 2024, at 6 p.m); Brentwood (January 30, 2024, at 4:30 p.m.); and New West Charter (February 1, 2024, at 4 p.m.).

Palisades’ girls have never won the City upper division championship. The boys won it once, in 2015-16, under previous coach Dave Suarez.