Edison girls’ soccer advances to Excalibur Tournament of Champions quarterfinals

NORCO —  On a frigid night, the temperature hit the mid-40s by game time Thursday for the Edison High girls’ soccer team.

Norco couldn’t cool off the Chargers on the field, though, in the Excalibur Tournament of Champions.

Christina Hardway, Emily Crownfield and Grace Ingalls all scored goals as Edison beat Norco 3-0 in the Excalibur Group F match at Silverlakes Sports Complex.

The win, coupled with Edison’s 2-1 victory over Rancho Cucamonga Los Osos earlier Thursday, meant that the Chargers won their three-team group. Edison will play in a tournament quarterfinal match on Friday at 6:45 p.m., at Silverlakes field No. 4. The opponent will be the Group C champion, which is to be determined, but San Diego Cathedral Catholic leads the group with one match to play.

The Chargers (5-2-1) have good team speed this year, said coach Kerry “Mac” Crooks, in her 30th year in charge. They also have a motivated and experienced core, as 15 of the 27 players on the roster are seniors.

“It’s nice that we understand who we are, how they’re supposed to play,” Crooks said. “That’s hard to do in a high school season sometimes, because it’s so short. They’re a good group. They play for each other, which is nice. We don’t have any superstars, and that’s kind of actually a fun thing. We don’t have a lot of times where a player scores more than one goal.”

That was true against Norco (1-4-3). Hardway, a senior, connected from near the top-left portion of the box in the 21st minute. Then, in the 34th minute, sophomore defender Madison Klasey played the ball up to Crownfield, another senior. Crownfield made an inside move on her defender before burying a cross-cage strike.

Edison struck again in the 42nd minute. This time, junior Jaqueline Peterson fed Ingalls with a short pass, and Ingalls buried the shot into the back of the net.

“It’s really good,” said Ingalls, who didn’t play high school soccer as a freshman as she competed in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy. “[My teammates] are like my older sisters. I love them all.”

Ingalls and Maddie Solorzano each scored goals for Edison in the tournament-opening win over Los Osos. Crownfield had an assist.

Senior Abby McCollam, a team captain along with senior midfielder Kate Davies and Nikki Marino, is a leader in the defense for Edison along with players like Alexa Palombo, Sophia Drake and Kelli McKay. They made sure that Edison junior goalkeeper Ava Norquist didn’t have to register any saves.

“I think we’ve definitely grown,” McCollam said. “Today, the coaches were saying that we’re getting a lot of through balls in past the other teams’ defenses. That’s just something that we’ve been working on and growing on. Knowing when to dribble and when to pass, that’s something we’ve also been working on as a team. We’ve been getting better this preseason, and I think we’ll have a good season against some really good competition like Los Al, CdM and Newport Harbor in league.”

The Excalibur Tournament of Champions continues through Saturday. Edison opens Sunset Conference play with a crossover match at rival Fountain Valley on Jan. 2.

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