The Tologs, from a tiny little Catholic school in La Cañada Flintridge, upset mighty San Clemente to win the CIF Southern Section Division 1 title, were No. 1 in ESPN Rise’s Fab 50 national rankings and seemed a shoo-in for a second successive Division III regional crown.

Someone forgot to tell Oaks Christian.

UCLA-bound Ally Courtnall scored twice and set up a third goal in the first 18 minutes, and the Lions (26-2-1) romped to their first Southern California Regional Championship title Saturday morning, a 3-1 decision at Warren High School in Downey.

Courtnall, a Canadian under-17 national-teamer, destroyed Flintridge Sacred Heart’s defense with speed as the Westlake Village school scored all three goals on counterattacks.

“I thought our girls played really hard today,” said Lions coach Sebastian Alvarado. “And I don’t think they knew how fast Ally was at the end of the day, and I don’t think they knew we have some girls who can knock the ball around.”

It capped a spectacular season for Oaks Christian, which won its final 20 matches and set a school record for victories while scoring 110 goals, won the Southern Section Division 4 title — its sixth section crown in the sport since 2003 — and that’s not all.

“We beat the [Southern Division 1 champion today, and we beat the Division 2 champion, Buena [of Ventura, in December],” Alvarado said. “So it’s pretty good to have that on your record.”

Flintridge Sacred Heart was missing two starting midfielders — Oaks Christian was without four players — but everything went downhill for the Tologs (23-2-1) when USC-bound forward Katie Johnson (23 goals) went down with a knee injury in the 10th minute. The Lions also benefited from Brittani Gardella’s play in the back and fellow senior Jaciella Mello’s performance in midfield.

Courtnall, the daughter of former NHL winger Russ Courtnall, is a converted defender — she’ll be an outside back at UCLA — whom Alvarado moved up front after a Dec. 20 loss to Saugus. The Lions haven’t lost since.“What she has, you can’t teach,” Alvarado said. “Her speed is world-class.”

Coutnall netted her 27th and 28th goals of the campaign, scoring from Mandi Duncan’s feed in the third minute and finishing a counter in the 18th, and her run down the right flank led to Bianca Deardorff’s 20th goal of the season in the 16th. Tera Trujillo netted a 30-yard free kick for Flintridge Sacred Heart in the 66th minute.

Oaks, which is No. 50 in ESPN Rise’s rankings, was missing several players in both of its losses — the other was a 6-1 Harvard-Westlake romp on Dec. 10 — and might have finished an unbeaten season with a little more fortune. Alvarado, who took the reins from athletic director Jan Hethcock this season after serving as the Lions’ boys coach, says he has no doubt this is the best team in school history (“Hands down — just don’t tell my A.D. that”) and figures a victory over the nation’s No. 1 club should count for something special.

“I guess we’re No. 1 in the nation now.”

Related article: Oaks Christian upsets No. 1-ranked team in the nation

DOWNEY — Ally Courtnall’s soccer career at Oaks Christian produced a pair of Southern Section titles, included more postseason goals than any player in school history and helped her secure a scholarship to UCLA.

Courtnall’s journey finally reached its destination Saturday, preventing Flintridge Sacred Heart from achieving the program’s ultimate goal.

The senior striker scored twice and assisted on Bianca Deardorff’s goal in the first 18 minutes, helping the Lions — ranked No. 50 nationally by ESPN/Rise Magazine — capture their first Southern California Div. III regional title with a 3-1 victory at Warren High, denying top-ranked Flintridge Sacred Heart from repeating as champion.

“It’s the best one I’ve gone through thus far, and I couldn’t have asked for better people and better coaches to share it with,” Courtnall said. “I feel like it’s finally complete. Now, it’s really like a finished story and it couldn’t have ended in a better way.”

Courtnall finished her career unbeaten in 19 postseason matches, scoring 22 goals. Three of the Lions’ five playoff defeats in program history came without Courtnall in the lineup, including a 2-0 setback to The Bishop’s School of La Jolla in the 2008 Div. III regional final.

After missing the regional championship her freshman year because of Olympic Developmental Program commitments,

the Canadian 17-under national team member was determined to make the most of her second chance, scoring in the third and 18th minutes, along with setting up Deardorff’s goal in between. Mandi Duncan assisted on Courtnall’s first goal, playing a ball from the right sideline near the top of the penalty area.
“When we got that first goal, we were like, `Yes, we can do this. We are just as good, if not better than they are and we can keep up with them,”‘ said Courtnall, who finished the season with 30 goals and 17 assists.

“We were prepared to be up and keep the lead or to be down and come back, but I don’t think we were expecting to get one in that early in the game.”

Flintridge Sacred Heart (23-2-1) regrouped following the early deficit to control possession and mount an attack against the Lions (26-2-1), who were minus four players, including midfielders Rachel Conners and Nicole Kawamoto. But an unfavorable situation quickly took a turn for the worse for the Tologs, who lost leading scorer Katie Johnson (23 goals, 12assists) in the 10th minute when the junior suffered a left ACL injury sprinting to track down the ball.

With midfielders Jillian Jacobs (SAT testing) and Krista Meaglia (confirmation class) missing the match and defender Kayla Mills (leg inury) unable to play, Johnson’s absence made an already thin Flintridge Sacred Heart lineup more vulnerable, and Courtnall and Deardorff took advantage.

“It was like a mental thing (losing Katie), but we did our best to keep our heads up and keep playing. Obviously we didn’t want it to be this way, but there’s nothing we could do about it,” Tologs senior defender Natalie Zeenni said. “All of us are exhausted. It’s been a really long season and that extra step, we just couldn’t complete it (Saturday). I think our entire team would do anything to replay this game, but we can’t.”

Courtnall’s speed continued to keep the Tologs on their heels, as her assist on Deardorff’s goal in the 16th minute and finish on an Oaks Christian counterattack less than three minutes later gave her 12 goals — increasing her career total to 77 — and four assists in her final five matches.

“(Our coaches) told us she was a good player, but I didn’t know she was that good,” Zeenni said. “Props to her, she’s great. She’s an amazing player, she’s fast and technical, so we didn’t expect that at all … When she’s gone, she’s gone.”

Although Tera Trujillo converted a 30-yard free kick in the 66th minute, Flintridge Sacred Heart, despite bolstering its attack with Alexa Montgomery, Katelyn Almeida and Zeenni, couldn’t pull any closer against a Brittani Gardella-led defense, with Oaks Christian’s Sydney Socquet making eight saves. Both teams also had second-half goals disallowed, with Deardorff ruled offsides before her header crossed the line in the 50th minute and Hailey James’ goal taken away in the 75th after the ball rolled out of bounds before Montgomery crossed it in front of the net.

“We wanted to come out and show them we are the team that deserves it,” said Gardella, the only athlete in school history to be a member of both regional and state title teams, running on the Lions’ Div. IV state-winning cross-country lineup in 2007.

“I was talking with Ally and (fellow senior Jaci Mello) about how great it is for us to be here three years later and to have another chance to end this with a win, to end it on the right note. It’s just amazing.”

Oaks Christian extended its winning streak to 20 in a row, snapped the Tologs’ run at 11 consecutive victories and denied Flintridge Sacred Heart — which had allowed three combined goals in its first seven postseason matches — a likely No. 1 national ranking.

“If somebody had told me back in November that you’d win the Mission League, you’d win CIF Division I and then you’d lose in the regional final, I would’ve taken that deal,” Tologs co-coach Frank Pace said.

Flintridge can’t keep up with Oaks Christian
By Keith Lair, Staff Writer

DOWNEY – Alexandra Courtnall inherited her speed from her father Russ, who played in the NHL for 15 years, including his final two with the Kings. His daughter used her speed to lead Oaks Christian past top-seeded Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy 3-1 in Saturday’s CIF State Division III Southern California Regional soccer championship at Warren High.

Courtnall first sprinted by Tologs defender Natalie Zeenni to score three minutes into the game, and then got past defender Alexa Montgomery for a goal 15 minutes later to lead the Lions to victory in the region’s lone girls game featuring CIF-Southern Section teams.

“I did not know she was that good,” Zeenni said. “We were completely caught off-guard, which explains the first goal. It is definitely our fault. She is an amazing player.”

Courtnall, who’ll play at UCLA next year and is a member of the Canadian national junior team, took a long diagonal pass from Mandi Duncan three minutes into the game. Zeenni tried grabbing her jersey to slow her down, and Courtnall beat her to the ball for a relatively easy goal.

“I was completely shocked,” Courtnall said. “I did not think we were going to go up that quickly in the game. I heard they were an amazing team, and we were prepared for anything.”

MISSION VIEJO – Ally Courtnall said she finally felt complete.

In a season in which the Oaks Christian girls’ soccer team was rarely at full strength – including the start of Saturday’s Southern Section Div. IV final – the Lions still managed to deliver a complete performance at Mission Viejo High.

Despite Kaycee Buckley arriving after kickoff because of an unspecified illness, top-seeded Oaks Christian demonstrated it still had plenty in reserve against No. 3 Canyon Springs.

Courtnall had a goal and an assist, becoming the Lions’ all-time postseason scoring leader with 15 goals, and Rachel Conners delivered the deciding goal in the 29th minute in a 2-0 victory, securing the Lions’ sixth championship – and second outright title – in nine years.

“To finish on top my senior year, it couldn’t be better,” said the UCLA-bound Courtnall, who increased her season totals to 23 goals and 14 assists, which boosted her career production to 70 goals and 37 assists.

“Us seniors, we had won a CIF championship, so we knew we had nothing to lose. But to win another one, I mean, what more could we ask for? We just want to try to enjoy these few more games that we have together (in the Div.III regional tournament) because we’re never going to have something as special as this again.” Courtnall

joined Jaci Mello and Brittani Gardella in securing a second division title, including a 3-1 victory over Downey in the Div.V final in 2008.
Despite a semifinal loss to South Torrance in 2009 and an overtime quarterfinal setback against Lakeside last season, Oaks Christian (23-2-1) was moved up to Div. IV, presenting a challenge for first-year coach Sebastian Alvarado, who took over for longtime coach and athletic director Jan Hethcock after guiding the Lions boys’ team the past decade.

But after a 2-1 second-round win over Culver City – in which Courtnall sat out because of an sprained MCL in her right knee – the Lions left no doubt as to who was the dominant team in the division during the past three matches, extending their winning streak to 17, while handing Canyon Springs (24-2-4) its first loss in 25 matches.

“It’s very rewarding because when you’re the No. 1 team, you’re expected to win every game,” said Alvarado, who became the school’s first coach to win section titles in multiple genders, joining his boys’ Div. V crown in 2008.

“They have to deal with other pressures in their lives outside of soccer, and (Saturday) with Kaycee was just another example. But we changed our lineup, made adjustments, and the girls went out and took care of business. Our three seniors definitely stepped up and played great.”

Especially Gardella, who shut down Crystal Lopez, who entered the final with 37 goals.

“Sebastian pulled me aside before the game and said, `(Lopez) is your player for the next 80 minutes.’ Right then, I made up my mind that she was not going to score,” Gardella said. “Jaci, Ally and I wanted to finish it off, just like we did our freshman year. We came together as a team and we pulled it out.”

Bianca Deardorff assisted on Courtnall’s goal and Sydney Socquet had four saves for the Lions.

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