Samo girls' soccer beats Oak Park High School in the CIF quarterfinals

Following its defeat of the Oak Park High School Eagles, the Samo girls’ varsity soccer team has advanced past the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) quarterfinals on Thursday, February 26 for the first time since 2008.The game began with the ball shifting from team to team without a clear advantage, and multiple attempted goals by both teams, as well as an unusual amount of fouls, most of which were against Samo.Near the middle of the first half, Maggie Lena ('17)  made a goal for Samo. She was tapped the ball by Ariana Lomeli ('15) after a throw-in.Soon after this first goal, two others followed soon after, both made by or assisted by Lomeli. The first was made directly by Lomeli after she controlled and shot the ball in the goal following the ball bouncing down the field. The second was headed in by Gabby Dyrek ('15) after Lomeli made a corner kick.The second half was less successful for Samo, given that two out of the three goals scored were by Oak Park."Towards the end of the game, we got a little more sloppy because we were getting unfocused and off track from the way that we normally play," Dyrek said.Even though the gameplay overall was sloppy, the fourth goal made by Amber King (’16) was highly successful."Our fourth goal was beautiful," defender Janet Coleman-Belin ('15) said. "I passed it to Ella [Sinfield] running up the sideline, who passed it to our outside mid, and somehow the ball got to [King] and she had a great shot from outside the box and scored."The game was won by Samo with a score of 4-2, leading to the advancement of the team to the CIF semifinals against La Mirada High School on Tuesday, March 3.