LOS ALAMITOS — Sophomore Zamorah Malinoski scored two goals, both on assists from Viviana Zacarias, to lead the Los Alamitos girls soccer team to a 2-1 victory over Capistrano Valley in a CIF SS Open Division first-round game Thursday at Los Alamitos High School.
The Griffins (14-5-5), who are the No. 6 seed in the Open Division bracket, will play the No. 3 seed Cougars (18-2-1) again Saturday at 11 a.m. at Capistrano Valley High School.
Under the format for the new Open Division, each team’s cumulative score for both games is used to determine the winner, who then advances to the quarterfinal round.
If the teams’ cumulative scores result in a tie at the end of regulation Saturday, two 10-minute overtime periods would be played under a golden-goal format. If neither team scores in overtime, penalty kicks would determine the winner.
The Cougars could also advance if they win Saturday’s game by at least two goals.
“Winning the first game at home was super important,” Los Alamitos coach Frank Rossi said.
“We can plan accordingly going into the next round game,” he added. “They have to possibly take more chances and we can adjust as we go.”
Zacarias made perfect passes to set up both goals.
The first goal came off a corner kick that Zacarias sent through the air to the far side of the goal to Malinoski, who headed the ball into the left side of the net, giving the Griffins a 1-0 lead.
“I knew Zamorah was my target,” Zacarias said. “So right when I looked at the goal, I knew where she was and I knew where she was going to run to. So, right when the ball left my foot, I knew it was going right to her. And she had that perfect run to head it in.”
The Cougars tied the score in the 36th minute on a goal from Camden Dershem, which came off a corner kick from Aubrey Perez.
Capistrano Valley kept the pressure on the Griffins for the first several minutes of the second half and almost took the lead on a laser of a kick from Sami Cole that hit the crossbar.
Cougars goalkeeper Alison Craycroft also made a nice stop on a shot from Natalie Lobo.
With six minutes left in the game, the Cougars set up for a free kick and once again it was Zacarias who kicked the ball over a wall of defenders and right to Malinoski, who headed the ball into the net for the eventual winning goal.
“I knew the time, the clock was ticking and we had to get a goal in,” said Malinoski, who leads the team with 13 goals.” So I started to push up. She played me an amazing ball.”
Zacarias had just as much praise for her teammate and said they’ve been practicing these types of set pieces together.
“She is the person I always look for on the field,” Zacarias said. “Right when the ball left my foot, I knew it was going right to her.”
