<\/p>\n
Estancia forward Sophy Zarate (7) and Costa Mesa forward Riley Ogo (13) fight for control of the ball on Thursday in the Battle for the Bell girls\u2019 soccer match.<\/p>\n
(Eric Licas)<\/p>\n
\u201cBehind winning CIF, our second goal is always winning Mesa,\u201d said Pastrana, a two-time All-CIF selection. \u201cThat\u2019s the biggest game everyone looks forward to. It\u2019s just such a great feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Costa Mesa (2-1-2) was the better side nearly everywhere except its attacking third, struggling to penetrate, creating little when it did, and repeatedly taking shots from distance that Eagles goalkeeper Abby McIntyre easily handled, mostly.<\/p>\n
All-CIF center back Aisleen Avalos anchored Estancia\u2019s effort, which also relied on fullbacks Abby Zarate, a junior, and freshman Hailey Brown, and holding midfielder Kaylani Bosch, another freshman.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Estancia defender Abby Zarate (3) keeps the ball away from Costa Mesa midfielder Emiley Davis (11) on Thursday during the Battle for the Bell girls\u2019 soccer match.<\/p>\n
(Eric Licas)<\/p>\n
\u201c[We talked] about competing the entire time, because we know that Mesa is going to compete the entire time,\u201d Estancia head coach Josh Juarez said. \u201cWe knew that we had to defend well, and we came up big. We competed all over the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pastrana scored after Costa Mesa defender Gianna Matian, also an All-CIF standout, poked away the ball but spilled Akins inside the box not quite a minute into the game, a decision Mustangs coach Jason Boyce disputed.<\/p>\n
Akins, headed to Cal State Northridge, sealed the victory after running onto a ball that got behind Costa Mesa\u2019s back line. She bent it inside the right-post netting.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Costa Mesa forward Riley Ogo (13) and Estancia forward Paloma Vallejo (10) battle for possession along the sideline on Thursday in the Battle for the Bell girls\u2019 soccer match.<\/p>\n
(Eric Licas)<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw the ball there and I was, like, \u2018I need to get this ball,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI was scared at first. I was, like, \u2018Uh-oh.\u2019 But then I just did it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mustangs were more composed on the ball and connected well out of the back and through midfield, but they had few ideas when attacking space was squeezed. They outshot Estancia, 18-12, put 11 on frame, but came close just once, after McIntyre mishandled a simple ball in the ninth minute. Riley Ogo pounced, but Bosch blocked her shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we allowed them to be better than us,\u201d Boyce said. \u201cWe kind of forced the issue. We weren\u2019t patient. … We played out of desperation when we just needed to settle in. Our players, they did their best, but they tried a little too hard. This is one of the problems with this rivalry game. It\u2019s like it means too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Estancia girls\u2019 soccer coach Josh Juarez hands out medals commemorating the team\u2019s victory over Costa Mesa on Thursday.<\/p>\n
(Eric Licas)<\/p>\n
Juarez sees how much it means.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a big game,\u201d he said. \u201cI always stress to the girls every season: This is not the championship game, and this doesn\u2019t make or break the season. We\u2019ve lost to Mesa and then gone off to win a CIF title and gone off to the semifinals of CIF. But I do understand the city rivalry. I do understand it\u2019s much bigger than that, and there\u2019s a lot of stress for these girls. …<\/p>\n
\u201cThey all wanted it. And so for them to step up today, it is a great moment for them that they\u2019re going to remember for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Smart, resolute defensive work, an early penalty kick, and Jana Akins\u2019 precise finish as time wound down sent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[5512,37041,27965,149346,35736,49,48,149350,149345,149351,149348,149347,149352,149349,6903,561,82,7479,18565],"class_list":["post-341652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-back","tag-ball","tag-battle","tag-bell-girl","tag-big-game","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cif","tag-costa-mesa","tag-early-penalty-kick","tag-estancia","tag-jana-akins","tag-pastrana","tag-possession","tag-season","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-time","tag-victory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}