Devoy settles debate

Melanie Neff

A little bit of controversy arose in a girls fifth- and sixth-grade

quarterfinal soccer game in the Daily Pilot Cup Saturday at the Costa

Mesa Farm Complex.

But, in the end, the outcome remained the same, as St. Joachim

advanced to today’s semifinals with a 3-2 victory over Harbor View

No. 2.

The controversy came about in the beginning of the second half

with St. Joachim holding a 2-1 lead.

Harbor View’s Shaye Bastien took the ball down the sideline from

midfield, then curled in toward the goal. She took a shot from the

side of the net and the ball skimmed the ground into the goal.

Goalkeeper Valentina Buonanoce immediately went to the head

official and told him the ball had entered the net through a hole.

The official then waved off the goal, but, after a protest by Harbor

View, decided to award the goal.

“It went through the side of the net,” Buonanoce said. “We all saw

it. It was obvious.”

“The other ref said he saw it too,” Lauren Devoy said.

In the end, Devoy made sure it didn’t matter. With five minutes

remaining, she took the ball down the left side, wove through several

defenders and converted a perfect left-footed shot from the side of

the goal for a 3-2 lead. It was the second goal of the contest for

Devoy, who scored with five minutes left in the first half to give

St. Joachim a 2-1 lead.

Sara Gomez got St. Joachim off to a big start when she took the

opening kickoff and dribbled all the way into the box before slamming

a shot into the corner of the goal with less than 20 seconds expired

in the game.

Harbor View came right back and tied the score, 1-1, in the third

minute when Linsday Zotovich picked up a miss by the defense at the

corner of the goal box and angled it into the opposite side of the

net.

St. Joachim controlled the rest of the half, led by Gomez, Devoy

and Lainey Prioleau, who combined for nine shots in the first half.

Harbor View goalkeeper Kylie Edwards was impressive, knocking down

blast after blast by the dominating trio. She finished with nine

saves, playing in her first year at keeper, as St. Joachim outshot

Harbor View, 16-7. Valentina finished with two saves for St. Joachim.

*

In other girls 5-6 action:

* Carden Hall 3, Mariners 0: In a quarterfinal match, Loren

Degranza, Caroline Hardenberg and Christina O’Tousa scored as Carden

Hall advanced to today’s semifinals.