{"id":408144,"date":"2026-01-14T07:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T07:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/408144\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T07:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T07:19:11","slug":"san-clemente-girls-soccer-strikes-early-to-edge-capistrano-valley-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/408144\/","title":{"rendered":"San Clemente girls soccer strikes early to edge Capistrano Valley \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber.\u00a0Subscribe now<\/a><\/p>\n

MISSION VIEJO \u2014 San Clemente\u2019s girls soccer players prayed, swayed and sang before taking the pitch Tuesday night to settle a score with Capistrano Valley.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for the Tritons\u2019 pregame ritual to look brilliant.<\/p>\n

Center midfielder Elle Schotemeyer scored less than two minutes into the South Coast League match by putting the final touch on a swift counterattack.<\/p>\n

The heroics of goalie Reese Tremper helped make the goal stand as the winner and San Clemente edged two-time defending South Coast League champion Capistrano Valley 1-0 in a clash of Orange County Top 10 teams<\/a> at Saddleback College.<\/p>\n

\"Goalkeeper<\/p>\n

Goalkeeper Reese Tremper (1) of San Clemente makes a save on a shot by Ella Brinkerhoff (9) of Capistrano Valley in a girls soccer game at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Elle<\/p>\n

Elle Schotemeyer (10), left, and Payton Fitch (8) of San Clemente celebrate after Schotemeyer scored a goal against Capistrano Valley in a girls soccer game at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Savannah<\/p>\n

Savannah Aquino (20) of Capistrano Valley moves the ball downfield against San Clemente in a girls soccer game at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Savannah<\/p>\n

Savannah Aquino (20) of Capistrano Valley and Jayden Smythers (14) of San Clemente battle for the ball in a girls soccer game at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Payton<\/p>\n

Payton Fitch (8) of San Clemente kicks the ball past the defense of Harper Kleindienst (18) of Capistrano Valley in a girls soccer game at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Harper<\/p>\n

Harper Kleindienst (18) of Capistrano Valley kicks the ball past Payton Fitch (8) of San Clemente in a girls soccer game at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Chloe<\/p>\n

Chloe Miller (18) of San Clemente trips over Shiloh Aquino (17) of Capistrano Valley after colliding in a girls soccer game at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Jayden<\/p>\n

Jayden Smythers (14) of San Clemente and Ellis Gleason (11) of Capistrano Valley battle for the ball in a girls soccer game at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 8<\/p>\n

Goalkeeper Reese Tremper (1) of San Clemente makes a save on a shot by Ella Brinkerhoff (9) of Capistrano Valley in a girls soccer game at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were super-ready to play,\u201d said Schotemeyer, who scored her third goal of the season for No. 8 San Clemente (11-1-3, 2-0-1). \u201cWe all got hyped up. Came on the bus, played music. And as soon as we got on (the pitch), we just super-high pressed and just went for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Clemente\u2019s Celia Mann shifted the counterattack into high gear by unleashing a shot from just outside the penalty that Capistrano Valley goalie Dylan Aguilar jumped to knock down.<\/p>\n

But as the ball bounced on the turf, Tritons forward Payton Fitch pressured and kicked it loose for Schotemeyer to score early in the showdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we have ever scored that early,\u201d said Schotemeyer, one of the Tritons\u2019 captains. \u201cWe\u2019ve scored in the first five (minutes), first 10 (minutes), but that was pretty early for us. I feel like it made us even more pumped and ready to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ranked No. 7 in Orange County, Capistrano Valley (6-3-2, 1-1-0) posted a 1-0 victory against San Clemente in a division final of the Best in the West tournament on Dec. 20.<\/p>\n

The Tritons played that match without Tremper, who made her presence felt Tuesday just before halftime.<\/p>\n

The senior rushed from her goal and made a sliding save against Capistrano Valley forward Ella Brinkerhoff, sending three players tumbling to the turf.<\/p>\n

It was the Cougars\u2019 lone shot of the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a close call there and she had a great touch onto the box,\u201d said Tremper, who is a committed to Villanova. \u201cI had to come off my line and then go down to the ground and get on that ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tremper missed the teams\u2019 previous match because she was in Arizona with the San Clemente basketball team for the Nike Tournament of Champions.<\/p>\n

After the soccer match Tuesday, Tremper dashed from the pitch to join the basketball team for a game at San Juan Hills.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all just, \u2018Wow, there she goes. Off to the next one,\u201d Schotemeyer said of Tremper. \u201cI think she manages her time really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Clemente also received strong play from defenders Sophie Thorstenson, Jayden Smythers and Chloe Miller.<\/p>\n

Capistrano Valley coach Jason Sorrell praised Tremper\u2019s play but came back to the Tritons\u2019 early strike.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got beat in the first 90 seconds,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter that, I think it was fairly even.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully that will motivate us for the next one,\u201d the coach added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber.\u00a0Subscribe now MISSION VIEJO \u2014 San Clemente\u2019s girls…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,3335,48,171953,171954,59324,4309,171955,62459,118679,561,82],"class_list":["post-408144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-canada","tag-dan-albano","tag-high-school-all-sports","tag-high-school-soccer","tag-high-school-sports","tag-mission-viejo","tag-orange-county","tag-san-clemente","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408144","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=408144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}