Edison girls’ soccer tops CdM to advance to Sunset League tournament semifinals
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Riley Crooks left Edison High School a few weeks ago to enroll at Texas A&M, where she will play college soccer.
Squint your eyes a bit, however, and see a freshman who has not only stepped up on the back line but even reminds one of Crooks a bit with her physical, ball-winning play and gritty nature.
Freshman Jaylen Maroney is 5-foot-11 and headed toward a bright future in soccer, volleyball or any sport she might choose.
“She’s a freshman, but she’s one of the loudest ones on our team,” Edison senior captain Olivia Romero-Green said. “She’s very respected on our team. One, she’s good, but two, she’s loud and aggressive and she wants to win. She brings the vibes up. She does remind me of Riley a little bit, in the sense that they’re both aggressive and they want to win. They have that touch, they’re really athletic and she’s fast.”
Maroney also now takes the free kicks for Edison. She picked a good time to find the back of the net for her first goal of the season.
Her low free kick laser in the 16th minute skipped in front of the CdM goalkeeper and in Thursday night, helping host Edison earn a 2-1 win over Corona del Mar in the quarterfinals of the inaugural Sunset League tournament.
With the win, Edison clinched a top-four spot in the league and automatic berth into the CIF Southern Section playoffs.
No. 4-seeded Edison (11-7-2) advances to play at top-seeded Los Alamitos in the Sunset League tournament semifinals Monday night. The rivals have split two previous meetings, with the Chargers winning the Excalibur Tournament final but the Griffins earning a 2-1 league win at Los Alamitos on Jan. 23.
No. 2-seeded Newport Harbor will host No. 3 Huntington Beach in the other Sunset League semifinal Monday, with the final to follow at the highest remaining seeded team on Wednesday.
The Sailors routed Fountain Valley 8-0 in another quarterfinal match, with Sadie Hoch netting a hat trick and Lily Achak netting two goals. Huntington Beach blanked Marina 2-0 behind a pair of goals from Sienna McAthy.
Edison also got a second-half goal from Lauren Green in its win over CdM (13-6), with coach Kerry “Mac” Crooks saying that the junior striker played her best game of the season.
Green’s goal, assisted by freshman Ayla Khoshkbariie, came less than a minute after the Sea Kings had tied the score in the 52nd minute. Alex Cross’ long free kick from the right was tapped into the goal by senior co-captain Lilly Borland.
“That was a great goal,” CdM coach Bryan Middleton said, adding that his team had improved substantially since a 5-0 drubbing at Edison in league on Jan. 9. “I’m extremely proud of the team. We’ve lifted our level of play the last four games … When you have [senior co-captain] Bella [Thomas] and Alex in the defense, you can create offense out of the outside backs.”
CdM hosts either Marina or Fountain Valley in the league tournament consolation final on Wednesday.
Edison still earned the victory. Senior Jayden Rodriguez and juniors Kalea Black and Maile Izumita-Sousa were other leaders on defense for the hosts, who relish another chance at Los Alamitos.
“It’s definitely an even playing field now,” said Edison senior Gabby Jenkins, a midfielder and another co-captain along with senior Lola Coderre. “The feelings are still definitely fresh with that loss, so I think that’s going to motivate us even harder to play our best and just put our chances away.”
Crooks said her team will have to play solid defense and create chances in transition. She doesn’t doubt her squad, though, which has 10 remaining seniors even without counting Riley, her daughter.
“We’ve been keeping girls in the program, which is good,” said Kerry Crooks, who had 14 seniors last season. “That’s what you want. You want the girls to go through your program and keep the tradition. I think this team has done a good job of keeping up the pace and playing your game. They try to play soccer, instead of playing any sort of kickball or anything like that.”
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