Motivated Claremont Too Much for Mission Viejo to Handle

Size and speed were probably enough for Claremont to defeat defending champion Mission Viejo in the Southern Section Division I girls’ soccer championship game Saturday. But toss in the revenge factor and the fourth-seeded Diablos never had a chance.

Claremont scored three goals in the first 20 minutes, then hunkered down to defeat the Diablos, 4-1, at La Mirada High. It was the fourth section title for the unseeded Wolfpack and first since 1993.

“I think they were really primed and ready to beat us,” Mission Viejo Coach Susie Dahrer said. “So far this year I haven’t had anybody score four goals on me in a game, so that was a little bit hard to take.”

The Diablos (18-6-4) defeated Claremont twice last season, including a 2-1 victory in the second round of the playoffs. Claremont Coach Otto Rieger was rooting for Mission Viejo to advance past Redlands in the semifinals Tuesday and set up a rematch.

“That’s exactly what we wanted,” Rieger said. “We didn’t want Redlands, we wanted them. We figured if we could beat the champions, then we are the champions.”

Mission Viejo took a 1-0 lead two minutes into the game when Erin Lowery was knocked off the ball during a shot attempt from in close and Kendal Billingsley scored on the ensuing penalty kick.

That seemed to fire up Claremont even more and the Wolfpack tied the score four minutes later on a breakaway goal by Heather Hanneman. Claremont (26-3-2) moved ahead for good about 10 minutes later when Brittany Kirk chipped a shot over the head of goalkeeper Hannah Cochrun from about 15 yards.

The Wolfpack extended their lead to 3-1 on another well-placed shot by Chardy Poole in the 20th minute. Shortly after, Rieger began subbing in some of his bigger players, which slowed Mission Viejo even further.

“Size was probably the main thing,” Dahrer said. “My girls were getting knocked pretty bad. Normally I have an aggressive defense and tonight they looked like mice.”

Claremont scored another goal in the 49th minute when Cochrun crashed into Hanneman while chasing down a loose ball in the box. Claremont was awarded a penalty kick, which Janet Light converted.

“We play them every year in CIF and I think they had some building up in them since a majority of their team is seniors,” said Cochrun, one of three seniors on Mission Viejo’s team. “The girls underneath us are going to do great, they’ll be back.”