Andersen chalks up goose egg

Melanie Neff

With most of its players returning from last year’s squad, Andersen

has had little trouble thus far in its run through the Daily Pilot

Cup. The third- and fourth-grade girls soccer team has shut out all

three of its opponents by the same 6-0 score.

On Saturday, Our Lady Queen of Angels became the latest victim,

losing to Andersen in the quarterfinals at the Costa Mesa Farm

Complex.

However, Queen of Angels managed something against Andersen no

other team has done in the tournament -- a shot attempt. In fact, it

took two.

Taylor Wong’s shot was the only offense Queen of Angels mustered

in the first half, as Andersen controlled the game and kept the ball

on offense the entire period.

McKenzie Brown scored two goals and Sarah Craig added one, before

Anna Venturini tallied the final three of the half for a 6-0 lead.

Brown scored the first goal five minutes in when she dribbled

through a pack, weaving in and out of defenders, then popped a shot

into the upper-right corner of the goal.

Ten minutes later, Craig got the ball on a breakaway and, with a

defender giving chase, slammed a shot just out of the reach of

goalkeeper Natalie Chase.

Andersen kept up the pressure and, one minute later, Brown scored

her second goal. She stole the ball from a defender and hit a shot

from just inside the 18-yard box to make it 3-0.

Then it was Venturini’s turn, as she scored all three goals in the

final five minutes of the half, two off assists from Craig and one

from Anika Gerken.

“A lot of our core group played last year,” Andersen Coach Claudio

Venturini said. “We have some club players and they play at school

together and AYSO. So it’s a pretty talented group.”

Goalkeeper Lindsey Luke, who plays for the Slammers, saw her first

action of the tournament when she was forced to make a save on Wong’s

shot. Queen of Angels’ Allyson Bernardy got off another shot in the

second half off a pass from Jeni Penunuri, but it hit the side of the

net.

In the second half, Claudio Venturini relaxed the offensive

pressure and had his team play defense to keep the shutout intact

without rubbing it in. Queen of Angels was able to put some pressure

on, but Bernardy’s shot was the only one of the second half.