July 26, 2024

OC Sports Zone: Community First

PHOTOS: Troy wins sixth consecutive Freeway League title, defeating Sunny Hills 5-1

2/4/20: Troy coaches and players celebrate their sixth consecutive Free League girls' soccer title after beating Sunny Hills, 5-1, Tuesday. (Photo courtesy Jim McCormack for the OC Sports Zone)

Troy coaches and players celebrate their sixth consecutive Freeway League girls’ soccer title. (Photos courtesy Jim McCormack, For OC Sports Zone)

Troy High’s domination of the Freeway League’s girls soccer reached an exclamation point Tuesday when the Warriors over ran host Sunny Hills 5-1 to secure their sixth consecutive league title.

“To keep a streak alive is awesome,” said Coach Mike Sitzer after his team completed a 10-0 run through league opponents.

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo

The Warriors are now unbeaten, on the field, in their last 66 league matches. They have been tied three times, all in matches with Sunny Hills and they have a forfeit loss to Fullerton in 2018. Their last on-field loss in league was to Sunny Hills 1-0 on Jan. 23, 2014. During its reign, Troy has outscored league rivals 266-19.

Troy won this season’s first meeting 2-1 and there was optimism that Tuesday would be different. The Lancers entered the match 8-1 with a veteran-laden team that had raced to a CIF title a year ago.

But any thoughts of ending Troy’s streak began to slip away early when Isabella Ales scored in the 8th minute and Lindsey Gaglio followed with another goal nine minutes later as the Warriors built a 2-0 halftime lead.

Ales’ goal bounced away from Sunny Hills’ goalie Priscilla Avila and nestled against the base if the right post, Avila diving to recover. After a dramatic pause of several seconds, the linesman ruled the ball had entered the goal and Troy had a 1-0 lead. Photos were inconclusive.

Troy pushed the lead to 3-0 in the 46th minute on an unusual goal by Aaoliyah Juge, on a throw-in that was touched by Avila before it went in the goal. Sierra Foster  made it 4-0 with a rebound shot in the 44th minute before Auburn Burnett scored Sunny Hills’ only goal in the 73rd minute. Bethany Arabe finished Troy’s scoring with a spectacular length-of-the-field dribble before beating Avila in the 83rd minute.

Troy will now await CIF playoff pairings. Even though the Warriors are 13-1 on the season, they are in the CIF’s top tier, Division I, where they are ranked 12th currently and it is not certain they will get a first-round home game.

-Courtesy Jim McCormack, For OC Sports Zone