Santa Margarita girls soccer rallies to tie Oaks Christian, earns spot in finals

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA — All teams are different, but Santa Margarita girls soccer coach Craig Bull admits that this year’s Eagles squad is unlike any other he has coached – and by a large margin.

The Eagles are dominated by underclassmen, with seven sophomores and two freshmen in the starting lineup. There was only one senior and one junior who took the opening kick Saturday, so there’s not a lot of experience to lean on.

But the remarkable journey of the Eagles will continue into the finals of the CIF Southern Section playoffs.

Top-seeded Santa Margarita and fourth-seeded Oaks Christian tied at 1-1 Saturday, but the Eagles advance by virtue of their victory Wednesday in the CIF-SS Open Division’s two-game format for this round of the playoffs.

Santa Margarita won on the series on aggregate score, 2-1.

The Eagles will play Trinity League rival Mater Dei in the finals. It will be the third meeting of the season for the two teams. In league play, the Eagles tied the Monarchs, 1-1, at Mater Dei, and Santa Margarita won at home, 4-1.

The victory Saturday came with a cost for Santa Margarita (17-1-4).

Sophomore Reagan Condon will miss the title game after suffering a gash above her right eye in the 20th minute. She collided heads with Oaks Christian’s Lana Lucas, who was also injured. Condon was taken to Mission Hospital by ambulance to be examined.

The Lions (16-5-3) took the lead in the 46th minute when Madison Bradbury turned from center and rifled a shot from 20 yards inside the right post.

About two minutes later, the Lions’ Arya Pfeiffer came within inches of making it 2-0.

“We actually outplayed them at our field and it was especially tough to not get a goal,” Oaks Christian coach Sebastian Alvarado said of his team’s 1-0 loss Wednesday.

“We knew we were in for a tough away match. We got the first goal today, which is what we wanted. Unfortunately, we hit the post (on another chance) – and if that goes in, it’s a different game.”

Santa Margarita goalie Kaitlin Crossett and teammates withstood the challenges, then evened the score in the 54th minute.

The Eagles answered with Felicity Nguyen, the lone junior starter, who scored from 10 yards after taking a pass from the right side from the lone senior starter, Jastel David.

Nguyen scored both goals this week for the Eagles.

From that point onward, it was up to Santa Margarita to not give up anything else. And it didn’t.

“It’s insane what these (freshmen and sophomore) kids are doing,” said Bull, whose team is in the CIF-SS finals for the fourth time in his four seasons as coach. “The rest of the group shares the same credit as (Nguyen and David) because of the unbelievable job they’re doing.

“In previous years, I feel like we’ve leaned on one or two players, but this is the best team run we’ve ever had. In terms of the team, how young they are, and how we lose a player for whatever reason and someone else steps up? This has been the most impressive run I’ve seen.”

Crossett, the goalie, said that at this point in the season grade levels are just numbers.

“Last year, the seniors played a pivotal role in this team,” Crossett said. “But this team is still rallying hard and we’re all fighting for this. We’re definitely playing older than we are. This team is very strong, we’re physical, but we can move the ball.

“We’re playing like seniors as a sophomore team.”

And now they’ll be playing for a championship. Another one.