SAN CLEMENTE >> When San Clemente’s girls soccer team edged San Juan Hills 1-0 on Jan. 6, Tritons coach Stacey Finnerty said the Stallions would be tough to beat again.
Finnerty was proven to be correct Tuesday as the two South Coast League teams played to a scoreless draw at San Clemente High.
Both teams had several scoring opportunities in the second half, but the defenses were able to get the ball out of harm’s way. San Clemente goalkeeper Emily Sanchez had five saves and Stallions goalkeeper Julia Prouty had several leaping saves of her own.
“I thought we had a lot of chances. We were just unlucky not to get one tonight, but soccer is like that sometimes,” San Juan Hills coach Farrel Moore said. “The girls were hyped up for this game. San Clemente is a big rival and we knew this was going to be a battle.”
San Clemente (7-2-4, 3-0-3), which is ranked No. 8 in this week’s CIF-SS Division 1 poll, is one point ahead of San Juan Hills (11-2-4, 3-1-2) in the South Coast League standings. The Stallions are ranked No. 10 in Division 1.
Peyton Leonard led the defense for San Juan Hills, and midfielder Emery Simis was very active on both ends.
Malia McMahon and Abby Succi led the defensive effort for the Tritons. The pair are committed to Cal and Western Washington, respectively. Addie Brislen and Samantha Lee contributed to the shutout as well.
“Malia is pretty big time. Her and Succi, I am very lucky to have those two center backs,” Finnerty said. “My whole back line is so solid and our goalie is great. It was a lot of extra work from them and I was thankful they did it.”
The first near scoring attempt came in the 26th minute when San Clemente’s Sophia Yeskulsky got an open shot but Prouty made a leaping save.
Prouty made another difficult save in the 54th minute when Yeskulsky made a nice pass to Mia Owens who nearly found the net.
San Juan Hills had its biggest chance a few minutes later when Lexi Wright threw it into the box but Succi was able to get the ball out of the scrum to give Sanchez some breathing room.
Faith Gillett, who scored the lone goal in the first game between the two teams, had a shot attempt in extra time that was saved by Prouty.
The Stallions will host Aliso Niguel on Thursday. San Juan Hills got a 2-0 win in the meeting between the two teams on Jan. 11.
“They are hungry. They are coming off this, they battled, won the ball a lot and played really well,” Moore said of her team. “At this point, they have to win out and we’ll see what happens.”
San Clemente will play Tesoro on Thursday. The Tritons were disappointed with a 1-1 draw against the Titans when they played earlier this season. If Tesoro upsets the Tritons, the two teams will be tied in the league standings.
