For Los Alamitos, Frustration Ends With Soccer Victory : Prep soccer: Jenny Reyes’ game-winner helps her and four senior teammates realize goal of beating Esperanza after 3 1/2 years of losses to Aztecs.

LOS ALAMITOS —  With four minutes remaining in an Empire League girls’ soccer game last month, Jenny Reyes scored the goal for which Los Alamitos High School had been waiting more than three seasons.

While not her most impressive of the season--in a pack of defenders, she deflected home a crossing pass from Laura Brun--Reyes’ game-winning goal certainly was her most meaningful.

Los Alamitos’ 2-1 victory over Esperanza meant the end of 3 1/2 years of Aztec dominance and put an end to a frustrating era for Reyes and four senior teammates--Brun, Julie Harris, Karen Kolodziej and Erin Ryan.

“We finally beat Esperanza, which is what we have been trying to do for the last four years,” Reyes said. “And to do it our senior year is neat. We’re all pretty excited about about it.”

Said Harris: “We kind of had a vengeance toward them because they beat us for so many years. We said, ‘This is the last time we’ll ever play them , so we better do it now.’”

Added Kolodziej: “It’s what I have lived for all four years--to beat Esperanza. It didn’t matter what place we got in league as long as we beat Esperanza.”

Now that Los Alamitos has defeated Esperanza, it is in position to win its first league title since 1986-87. If the Griffins (15-3-3, 5-0-2 in league) win their three games this week, they will end Esperanza’s three-year reign.

Los Alamitos, the fifth-ranked team in Southern Section Division 5-A, has excelled this season largely because of its balance. The Griffins don’t have a single dominant player, they have five, Coach Leonard Lopez said.

“Any one of them can literally dominate a game,” Lopez said. “If they play consistently, we are a tough team to beat.

“It’s made it a lot easier coaching over the four years that I’ve had them. They know exactly what I want and what I need them to do.”

Midfielder Harris leads the team with 13 goals and is second in assists with eight. Midfielder Kolodziej has nine goals and nine assists; forward Reyes has six goals and three assists; midfielder Ryan has five goals and six assists, and Brun, who is predominately a defender, has three goals and five assists.

All totalled the five, whom Lopez said are among the most dominating players in the Southern Section, have 36 of the teams’ 46 goals and 31 of 36 assists.

Of the five only Reyes, who returned to the team last month after missing the first 15 games with a back problem, doesn’t plan to continue playing soccer in college. Doctors have told Reyes, who also plays volleyball and is on the track and field team, that she risks serious injury if she doesn’t stop competing after high school.

Harris plans on signing a letter of intent to play for UC Santa Barbara; Brun will choose between UCSB and Santa Clara; and Ryan and Kolodziej are considering San Diego State. Ryan is also considering UC Irvine.

Brun, Harris, Kolodziej and Ryan had been playing soccer together since they were 6- and 7-year-olds. And Reyes, whose family moved into Los Alamitos’ attendance area when she was in the seventh grade, participated with the others on youth soccer all-star teams.

Harris and Brun started for the Griffins’ varsity as freshmen; the other three became starters the next year.

The five girls also play club soccer, though not for the same team. Four of them helped the Fountain Valley Sting to the 19-and-under Southern California championship (National Cup) last spring.

“It’s going to be really hard to leave and go to different colleges,” Ryan said. “It really helps to have support from your other teammates, especially from those four. They’ve always been my best friends.”

Soccer Notes

The scoring derby between El Toro’s Shawn Viloria and Esperanza’s Lynn Murray heated up last week. Murray, who scored four goals in Esperanza 6-0 victory over Loara, has 33 goals and 25 assists and has scored eight goals in the past two games. Viloria, the defending 4-A offensive player of the year, scored her 32nd goal of the season in a 3-1 victory over Capistrano Valley.