Lady Toad kickers march over Saints
by Misty Volaski

It's hard not to get excited when you start your season off with a 5-0 win.
That's what Thacher's girls' soccer team did Wednesday, when they played Santa Clara at home.
From the beginning, Thacher capitalized on a weak Santa Clara defense, driving them back time after time - for goal after goal.
The Toad's fourth goal prompted the Saints to change goalkeepers in hopes of minimizing the damage. While it worked, holding Thacher to just one more goal, the Saint offense didn't have what it took to put down the Toads. Thacher's goalie,
Thacher's defense - particularly the Toad goalie - had a fairly easy day, as Thacher's forwards kept the ball in Saint territory for the majority of the game.
For the Toads, Emma Werlin scored once while Laurel Back and Diedre Herbert each scored twice. Back also had two assists.
The win brings Thacher to a 1-0 record. Thacher will play at home today vs. Viewpoint at 3:30 p.m.

Division II Westlake foils Lady Rangers

by Jesse Phelps

The Lady Rangers tested themselves against one of the top teams in the state in their opening match of the year and played a solid game before falling 5-0 to Westlake High.
Nordhoff had the advantage of playing at home, but the disadvantages of missing All-Frontier Leaguer Ally Taylor to illness and being one game behind due to Thanksgiving break.
The score was 2-0 at halftime and Westlake controlled the action for much of the day.
Nordhoff recovered in the second half, playing attack soccer and nearly scoring several times.
Nordhoff coach Pete Christl liked what he saw after halftime. "We're encouraged by it. Even though they scored more goals in the second half, we played much better. We moved the ball, we created some attacking opportunities and we pressured them more at midfield, which is their strength. They have a number of players on the national team."
Christl called Westlake, which was coming off a 4-0 shutout of Buena, "probably the top CIF team in Division 2 this year."
Christl was happy with his team's effort and talked about the game as a good opportunity for his team to learn against a quality opponent.
"What we were trying to accomplish here," he said, "was just start off the season against a really tough team and identify what we need to work on for the season and let the girls come out of the game trying to play better as a team and we accomplished that."

© 2002 The Ojai Valley News

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