DIVISION II GIRLS’ SOCCER : Long Beach Poly Seizes Opportunity, Beats El Modena

Sometimes it only takes one chance, one to succeed or one to fail. Long Beach Poly made the shot it needed to win a Southern Section Division II girls’ soccer semifinal game, 1-0. El Modena did not.

Poly plays Ventura Buena, a 3-0 winner over Laguna Hills Tuesday, in the final on Saturday.

After a scoreless first half, the teams played a fast-paced 15 minutes. Poly midfielder Shannon Donnelly made a long pass to forward Sarah Kaminsky, who took three stutter-steps and shot the ball past goalie Marie Dillon for Poly’s only score.

Fifteen minutes later, El Modena (21-6-1) got the best chance a team could ask for. Jessica Dahlberg was tripped, directly in front of the goal and Kaylee Whitfield, who leads the Vanguards with 30 goals and 18 assists, took the penalty kick.

Whitfield shot the ball to the right, but goalie Cheri Phillips dived to block it, and no one followed up the rebound until a Poly defender finally cleared it out of the area.

“All goalkeepers know to watch the eyes,” Phillips said. “And (Whitfield) looked left, so I went right, or whatever way.”

El Modena Coach Jeff Pearson tried to explain what Whitfield was feeling.

“When it’s 1-0 and a semifinal game, and a team believes it’s earned the right to win (the section title), all the world is on her shoulders,” he said. “It’s like Roberto Baggio (of Italy) missing the penalty kick in the World Cup. It’s almost too much pressure for a junior in high school.”

For the next 15 minutes, El Modena staged a furious attack on the Jackrabbit defense, but came away scoreless.

“It just wasn’t our day to win,” Pearson said. “Everything kept leading up to the inevitable. The ball just wasn’t bouncing our way. There are days you step on the field and you know who’s going to win.”