Southern Section Soccer : Biefeld’s Late Goal Is Difference as Edison Defeats Laguna Hills, 1-0

Joy Biefeld scored off a corner kick late in the second half to give Edison a 1-0 victory over Laguna Hills in a Southern Section 4-A girls soccer semifinal playoff game Tuesday afternoon at Edison.

The victory sends the top-seeded Chargers (25-0-2) into Friday’s championship game at 6 p.m. at Gahr High in Cerritos, against Mission Viejo.

The win, Edison’s 19th shutout of the season, also extended the Sunset League champions’ unbeaten streak to 27 games.

Laguna Hills, the South Coast League champion, finished 17-5-3.

Biefeld’s unassisted goal came with 4:13 left. Her shot deflected off several Laguna Hills defenders and slipped underneath the crossbar.

Colleen Silva, the Chargers’ co-coach, said the goal might not have have happened without Edison center Pam Lewin’s fake just before the shot by Biefeld, the Southern Section’s leading scorer with 46 goals.

Lewin faked a shot off the corner kick, drew the Hawks’ defense out of position and Biefeld came in behind her to score the game-winner.

“We’ve worked and worked on that play and it came through for us again,” Silva said. “Pam dummied it perfectly and layed it up for Joy just like she’s been doing all year.”

The Chargers outshot the Hawks, 14-12, but Renee Nadon, Edison’s co-coach, said her team got away from its game plan in the first half.

“We were fortunate to get out of the first half at 0-0,” Nadon said. “There were too many balls in the air in the first half and that’s not our game. We’ve got to keep it on the ground to be successful.”

Jill Warden, Edison’s junior goalkeeper, led the Chargers with seven saves, including two which stopped breakaways by the Hawks.

Nadon praised defender Donna Robertson for shutting out Heather McIntyre, Laguna Hills’ All-Southern Section foward.

“She really stopped her,” Nadon said. “It got to where she wouldn’t even challenge Donna.”

In other girls’ 4-A action:

Mission Viejo 0, Torrance 0 (Mission Viejo advances on penalty kicks)--The Diablos advanced to the 4-A final by outscoring second-seeded Torrance, 3-2, in the tiebreaker at Mission Viejo.

Stacey Hopper, Julie Foudy and Shana DeFries scored on penalty kicks for the Diablos after scoreless ties at the end of regulation and two overtime periods.

Mission Viejo goalie Julie Hembree stopped three of the five Torrance penalty kicks and had 13 saves in the match. Denise Henderson and Shannon Maddock scored for Torrance.

It was the second time Mission Viejo (22-3-2) had used penalty kicks to move on in the playoffs. The Diablos beat South Torrance on penalty kicks, 3-2, in the quarterfinals.

In boys’ 3-A action:

Esperanza 4, Lompoc 0-- Senior Midfielder Ed Quigley scored his first hat trick of the year to lead the No.1-seeded Aztecs to the 3-A finals against No. 2 seed Burbank High Saturday night at Gahr High.

The Aztecs, 24-0-2, also recorded their 21st shutout of the season, a CIF record.