Ayso All-star Roundup
Pali Storm, coached by Chuck Davis and Nancy Babcock, won the girls’ under-12 AYSO Area 1-P soccer championship last weekend and was crowned the top team in Los Angeles. The top-seeded Storm defeated Santa Monica, 1-0, in the finals Sunday at Culver City High School. Izzy DeSantis took a pass from Eve Babcock and scored the only goal with five minutes left to give Pali the title. Earlier Sunday, Pali defeated Culver City, 1-0, in the semifinals. Left winger Virginia James made a pinpoint pass to Kei Goldberg, who scored the winning goal in the 46th minute. In Saturday’s quarterfinal game, the Storm shut out South Los Angeles, 9-0, with eight different girls scoring. Jordan Gruber scored twice and Goldberg, DeSantis, James, Zoie Aliado, Lily McGuire, Nicole Savage and Natasha Wachtel each added a goal for Pali. The Storm went 6-0-1 in the seven-game tournament, counting games from the previous weekend (January 21-22). The Storm’s heralded defense, led by sweeper Jenna Davis, fullbacks Sarah Thorson and Deborah Abber, stopper Lucy Tilton and Grady Gitlin, did not allow a goal over the two-weekend tournament. Pali outscored its Area P competition, 25-0, over the seven games and improved its record to 16-2-2 heading into the Section 1 playoffs on March 11. While the Storm was dominating its competition, the Banditz, Palisades’ U-12 boys team, was busy winning its third consecutive tournament and keeping its undefeated record alive. Playing against the best teams from eight regions in the Los Angeles area, the Banditz ran away with the Area 1-P championship, outscoring their opposition 22-4 in seven games, including four shutouts. With a lineup consisting of most of the same players who had won the Area P tournament and finished third in the Sectionals at the U-10 level, the Banditz defeated West Los Angeles, 2-1, in the finals Sunday at Culver City High. Shane Centkowski scored the winning goal on a header off of a throw-in from Charlie Porter in the second half. Coached by Alex Gansa and Gary Gray, the Banditz’ offense was paced all tournament long by Aidan Gray, Chris Stenseth Doering, Jack Ramsey, Judd Liebman, Sawyer Pascoe and Willy Gansa. Defensively, Pali was led by Porter, Quaid Walker, Jordan Lewis, Ryan Kahn, Nick Ledesma and goalie Jake Tenzer. Also contributing were Andrew Tinger, Chase Pion and Cole Kahrilas. As champions of Area P (consising of Hollywood, Culver City, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Brentwood-Pacific Palisades-Topanga, West Los Angeles, South Los Angeles and L.A. Central), the Banditz earned the right to join the Storm at the Sectionals in Riverside. U-10 Girls The Pali-Cats, the Brentwood-Palisades “A” all-star team coached by Steve Morris, came within a whisker of the Area 1-P championship following two weeks of quality competition. After scampering through pool play with a 3-1 record, the Cats entered last weekend’s elimination round as the No. 2 seed. On Saturday, the Cats rode three goals by Dani Cohen, two more by Jillian Apel and a clincher by Lizzy Thomas to eliminate South Los Angeles. In the semifinals against a fast and tough squad from West Los Angeles, the Cats needed solid defense from Emma Schwartz, Emma Sanderson, Dori Morris and Dani Cohen to shut down the West L.A. attack. Cohen, Thomas, Sanderson and Sarah Trenton each tallied for Pali in the 4-1 victory. The final game served up a rematch against season-long rival Culver City, the only team to beat the Cats in the tournament. The Pali girls dominated play from the opening whistle thanks to forwards Sanderson, Trenton, Thomas, Mackenzie Gray, Mikaela Hong and Mackenzie Howe. In the third quarter, Howe snuck a goal past the opponents’ keeper and the Pali sideline erupted with cheers. But Culver City answered with two late fourth-quarter goals to win 2-1. However, by virtue of finishing second, the Cats have many more lives left and still advance to the Sectionals in March. Three other Palisades-based all-star teams competed in the Area 1-P tournament last weekend but missed qualifying for the Sectionals. In the U-10 boys’ division, Frederick Gillette’s Ferrets fell just short of reaching the semifinals. In the girls’ U-14 division, the Pali Shock, coached by Cameron Dager, also was eliminated prior to the semifinals. Led by head coach Ardi Nozari along with assistants Steve Gleitman and Larry Webster, the Pali All-Stars U-14 boys team enjoyed an amazing run, finishing fourth overall and narrowly missing a trip to the Sectionals. But along the way, Pali upset second-seeded Beverly Hills, 1-0’a team it had lost to 5-0 in the preliminary round.
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