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Orange County girls soccer will be well-represented Saturday as the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs reach the quarterfinal round.
Four schools will be vying for spots in the semifinals, highlighted by a clash between Newport Harbor and Villa Park at El Modena High’s Fred Kelly Stadium at 5:15 p.m.
“Should be quite a battle,” Newport Harbor coach Justin Schroeder said. “Every game in Division 1 is a battle. There’s no easy road.”
The Wave League champion Sailors (14-9-4) cooled off Capistrano Valley 3-2 in the second round Wednesday behind first-half goals by freshman midfielder Sadie Hoch and junior forward Isa Whittaker and an own goal by the Cougars. Capistrano Valley had won 10 consecutive matches.
Crestview League champion and No. 4 seed Villa Park (18-3-2) advanced by defeating previously unbeaten Claremont 1-0 on a goal by senior midfielder Paige Califf.
Orange County’s other two Division 1 quarterfinals also are intriguing. Surf League champion Los Alamitos (17-4-5) plays at defending champion and No. 3 seeded Harvard-Westlake (13-1-4) at 5 p.m.
The Griffins advanced with a 1-0 victory against Millikan on a strike from 25 yards by Marissa Salazar in the 59th minute.
Los Alamitos’ Viviana Zacarias, left, celebrates her goal with Katie Piburn during a Surf League match against Edison at Los Alamitos on Thursday, January 27, 2022. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)
Los Alamitos faces the Wolverines in the playoffs for the first time since the Division 1 semifinals in 2019. The Griffins won that match 3-0 before eventually falling to JSerra in the finals.
Harvard-Westlake is not expected to have the standout Thompson sisters. Alyssa was recently named to the under-20 U.S. World Cup qualifying roster.
In another quarterfinal, South Coast League co-champion San Clemente (10-1-6) plays at No. 2-seeded Temecula Valley (19-1-1), which features high-scoring forward Natalie Mitchell, at 5 p.m. The forward bound for East Carolina has netted 32 goals for the Best in the West tournament champion.
“I think it will be a quality matchup,” San Clemente coach Stacey Finnerty said.
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Other county teams in the quarterfinals are: Orange Lutheran and Tesoro in Division 2, La Habra, Portola and Sonora in Division 3 and Capistrano Valley Christian in Division 7.
First-time Pacific Coast League champion Portola, in the playoffs for the first time, plays host to La Habra at 5 p.m.