Sports
UPDATE: Wilson Girls' Next Match Is Set in CIF Soccer Finals
The Bruins play Buena High from Ventura at 5 p.m. Friday at Warren High School in Downey. Standout Kim Marshall, with two yellow cards, is out for the game.
LATE WEDNESDAY UPDATE: The Wilson girls soccer team meets up with Buena High School, from Ventura, at 5 p.m. Friday at Warren High School in Downey. The school is neutral turf for such a big game, which originally was scheduled for Mission Viejo but moved north for the ease of Buena). The match is for the CIF championship.
Wilson High will play in the CIF finals. Its star player, Kim Marshall, will not.
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Handed a pair of yellow cards, the equivalent of a red, in Tuesday’s 1-0 victory over Newbury Park, Marshall is disqualified from playing in the next game – the CIF Division 2 Finals.
“She’s definitely heartbroken. She’s devastated,” Bruins coach Jason Kirkwood said. “Kim Marshall was a dominant force until she got her second yellow. They were both very ticky-tack. He (the referee) didn’t hesitate, despite the massive consequence.
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“She knows we wouldn’t be at this point, going to the finals, without her.”
Wilson, the champion from the Moore League and the No. 3 seed, will face fourth-seeded Buena at Mission Viejo High School. The day and time for the game has not been determined, Kirkwood said. Buena upset top seeded Palos Verdes Tuesday, 1-0.
Marshall was responsible for the only goal of the game, which came in the first minute of play.
Within the first minute, a shot was deflected and Wilson had a corner kick. Marshall bent a shot that grazed the Gators goalie’s fingertips and sailed into the back of the net. Marshall, a senior, will play at Wake Forest on scholarship next season.
Then, as Kirkwood said, the Bruins held on for 79 minutes.
“A lot of it comes down to game management,” Kirkwood said. “We clogged the middle, disrupted the play and didn’t allow them in.”
The Bruins took a defensive tact for the rest of the game. Kirkwood moved players and substituted liberally to keep his back line of Niki Boulgaris, Mallory Oates and Geanna Empleo fresh. He swapped in Taylor Sacuy and Teresa Onorati when needed, playing with what amounted to five defenders, he said.
“This really limited their shots to about 25-30 yards away, they couldn’t get close,” Kirkwood said.
Wilson will need to amend its strategy to play without Marshall in the finals, Kirkwood added. A victory in the finals will assure Wilson a spot in the CIF Southern California Regionals, which begin Tuesday.