Prep Roundup: Edison hard to beat

Five of the top 10-ranked teams, including the top four seeds, are still in the running for the CIF Southern Section Division 1 boys’ soccer championship.

Edison High is one of those remaining teams, and it’s a golden feeling for the Chargers.

The division’s No. 2 seed needed two late scores, including a goal two minutes into a overtime by Jack Slavik, to pull out a 2-1 victory Tuesday at Long Beach Cabrillo. Slavik’s golden goal, preceded by a goal by teammate Connor Gordon late in the second half, allowed the Chargers to slip past the upset-minded Jaguars, and into Thursday’s quarterfinal round.

Edison, 23-1-1 overall, will play host to Bay League champion and seventh-ranked Palos Verdes at 3 p.m. Thursday. The winner moves on to a semifinal date on Tuesday. Against either No. 3-seeded San Clemente (South Coast League champ) or St. John Bosco (Trinity League No. 2).

Palos Verdes blanked 10th-ranked Dos Pueblos (Channel League No. 2), 3-0, Tuesday.

Cabrillo, the No. 3 team from the Moore League, took a 1-0 halftime lead on Sunset League champion Edison. The Jaguars appeared to be closing in on a potential upset until Gordon, a senior forward, punched in a goal to tie the score with 36 seconds remaining in regulation play.

Slavik, a junior midfielder, put in the winning goal two minutes into overtime.

“I’m very proud of the team performance,” Edison Coach Charlie Breneman said. “Cabrillo was a very good team and they made it difficult on us. Our kids kept to the game plan and kept plugging away and were rewarded for their efforts.

“This team doesn’t know how to give in. We only have a day to prepare for the quarterfinals, and it’s going to be difficult.”

Edison opened playoff action Feb. 20 and scored a 4-0 shutout over visiting Moreno Valley Valley View (Inland Valley at-large). Goals were scored by Apolo Rosa, Hunter Kelley, Hunter Kling and Colin Douglas.

•Huntington Beach also qualified for the Division 1 playoffs and the Oilers (Sunset League No. 4) played a wild-card game Feb. 19 against Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (Mission League No. 4). The Oilers were eliminated by the Knights, 3-0.

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Girls’ Water Polo

A year after finishing runner-up to the title, Ocean View is back in the CIF Southern Section Division 7 semifinals. The second-seeded Seahawks, the second-place team from the Golden West League, took on River Valley League champ and No. 3-seed Riverside La Sierra Wednesday. The score wasn’t available at press time. The winner advances to face either top-seed and Golden West League champion Segerstrom or Mt. Baldy League champ Chino in the division final Saturday at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatic Center in Irvine.

Ocean View advanced to Wednesday’s semifinal round by defeating Ontario Colony (Mt. Baldy League No. 3), 18-7, and fifth-ranked Riverside Notre Dame (River Valley League No. 3), 10-7, in its first two playoff games.

•Edison, the No. 3 team from the Sunset League, won a Feb. 18 Division 1 wild-card game over El Dorado, to move on to a first-round meeting Feb. 19 at No. 3-seed Corona del Mar. The host Sea Kings defeated the Chargers, 10-4.

Delaney Cleveland led Edison in scoring with two goals. Sabrina Jensen and Lyndsie Williams both scored once, and Jensen had a team-high five steals. Goalie Josette Santos had seven saves.

“Any time you play a key big game against CdM, especially one in CIF, you know it will be a challenge,” Edison Coach Diggy Riley said. “Our girls played hard, and we knew our backs were against the wall. CdM is a really good team that has the benefits of training in a 50-meter, something we did very little of the entire season. I am really proud of this team.”

Riley said that Jensen, a junior, finished as Edison’s leading scorer for the season with 75 goals. She is now ninth all-time in career scoring (119 goals) in only two seasons. Cleveland, also a junior, had 73 goals on the season, good for 10th all-time in a season, and Santos, a senior, moved to No. 3 on the all-time career list with a total of 517 saves.

Edison finished the year 17-13.

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Girls’ Soccer

Four local teams entered CIF Southern Section playoff action last week, and two teams emerged victorious.

Sunset League champion Edison moved on in Division 1 play by defeating Rosary Friday. The teams played to a 1-1 tie but the 10th-ranked Chargers advanced on penalty kicks, 4-1.

Edison senior MacKenzie Cerda scored the tying goal with a rocket shot from outside 18 yards with seven minutes to play. After two overtimes, the match went to penalty kicks. Chargers freshman goalie Zoe Clevely stopped three Rosary kicks which helped propel the Chargers (9-6-7) on to a second-round game Wednesday against Sea View League champ and ninth-ranked Capistrano Valley.

The Capo Valley-Edison winner advances to a division quarterfinal game Friday against either No. 2-seeded Aliso Niguel (South Coast League champ) or Etiwanda (Baseline League at-large).

•Huntington Beach’s playoff debut was a success Friday as the Oilers, the No. 2 team from the Sunset League, defeated Pacific Coast League runner-up Northwood, 2-1. Sophomore Sawyer Koelsch scored both goals from the Oilers with assists registered by Sarah Steinhaus and Darci Weiser.

Goalie Kate Hart had five key saves for Huntington, which ran its record to 11-4-5.

The Oilers played a second-round game Wednesday at Trinity League champion and fifth-ranked Santa Margarita. The score wasn’t available at press time. The winner of that game advances to face either Villa Park (Century League No. 3) or Alemany (Mission League No. 3) in a quarterfinal game Friday.

•Fountain Valley, an at-large entry to the playoffs from the Sunset League, was upended, 2-1, at Pacific Coast League champ Corona del Mar in a first-round game Friday.

In a Division 6 opener Friday, Ocean View fell, 3-1, at San Andreas League champ Rialto. Mikaela Malsy scored for the Seahawks (Golden West League No. 3), who closed the year 10-11-3.