Griffin Girls advance to CIF Soccer semi-finals, shut out Newport 2-0

Colby Barnett scored two goals and the defense turned in its third straight playoff shutout as the Los Alamitos Girls Soccer team downed Newport Harbor in their CIF Division I quarterfinal match on Tuesday.

Los Alamitos, the No. 2 seed going into the playoffs, improved its overall record to    and will now travel to Harvard-Westlake for a semi-final match on Saturday.  the two teams had an equal number of home games, so a coin flip determined the location at the Wolverines Studio City campus.

It was only the third loss of the year for Newport Harbor but two of those losses came at the hands of the Griffins.  The Sailors held the potent Los Al offense scoreless in the first half, although Los Al didn’t convert some good opportunities.  But in the first minute of the second half, a Newport corner kick quickly turned into a Los Al counter attack.  Maddie Reed fed the ball ahead to a streaking Barnett, who outran the defense and placed the ball inside the left post to go up 1-0.

Nine minutes later Barnett struck again. Forward Tabitha Barnett won a scramble in front of the net and made a short dish to Barnett. The keeper got a piece of her shot but it still had enough to make its way inside the right post.

It was the fifth goal in the past two games for the speedy, non-stop midfielder and her 16th  on the season, to go along with her 16 assists.  Her fellow sophomore LaParl notched her 16th assist of the season as well. She is the leading scorer in Orange County with 28 goals.

The Griffins turned in another superlative performance, with keeper Reezyn Turk only having to make one save on the match.  It was the 22nd shutout of the season for the defensive unit, again breaking their own school record.

The Griffins next opponent, perennial Division I power Harvard-Westlake, will also bring an undefeated record into the match at 17-0-6.  They went 7-0-1 to win the always tough Mission league and feature a team with 12 seniors who get a lot of playing time.  They defeated Vypress 3-0 to advance to the semi-finals.

In the top half of the bracket, top-seeded J. Serra, 3-0 winners over San Juan Hills, will face No. 4 seed Villa Park.  Villa Park went on the road to defeat Aliso Niguel 4-0.

Read the LA Times coverage of the match.