Gondos Never Quit in Playoff Win

In its playoff opener against West Adams Prep, the Venice High girls soccer team came back not once, not twice, but three times. The Gondoliers didn’t lead the entire game until the last shot, but that didn’t matter as they upset sixth-seeded West Adams Prep in their City Section Invitational playoff opener 4-3 in sudden death overtime Thursday afternoon.

“We are really trying to advance far enough to play Hamilton again (the No. 2 seed)," Venice head coach Ruben Palma said. "That’s what the girls are using as motivation. It was an incredible effort today."

Much like the boys team did in its playoff loss Wednesday, the girls fell behind early. After a Venice defender whiffed on a clearing attempt, the ball fell to Kimberly Villatoro who easily put home a shot to give West Adams a 1-0 lead.

After a couple 0f scoring chances, 11th-seeded Venice (10-5-4) tied the game on a classic counterattack. The ball was played outside to captain Danielle Vasquez, who sent a beautiful cross to Alyssa Ortega for the goal. It would be a sign of things to come.

However, in another sign of things to come, the game did not stay tied for long. Literally seconds after Venice tied it, West Adams notched its second goal. This time it was Daniela Rojas scoring on yet another defensive mistake, giving her team a 2-1 halftime lead.

“It was really tough on us because we were always trailing so we had to work twice as hard as they did," Ortega said. "I’m exhausted and I’ll be very sore tomorrow but it’s all worth it right now.”

For most of the second half, it looked as though Venice would never tie it back up. Over the first 30 minutes of the half, the Gondoliers had three shots that dinged off the crossbar. Finally Venice got it through and, just like its first goal, it was Vazquez to Ortega.

Vasquez placed a beautiful through ball to Ortega, who slipped it past the goalkeeper to make it 2-2. The second half ended 2-2, and it was on to two 10-minute overtime periods.

Both teams traded punches throughout the first overtime, but it look like West Adams landed the knockout blow in the final seconds when a low cross across the goal got past Venice goalkeeper Morgan Disanto, and Sanny Hernandez was on the other end to put the host Panthers (11-5-1) back on top, 3-2.

As quickly as West Adams went ahead, Ortega scored just seconds into the second overtime. Ortega split the defense and rocketed a shot past the goalkeeper, giving her a hat trick and tying the game up yet again, this time at 3-3.

“Our strategy was to have Danielle and Keila patrol their sections of the field, and just let Alyssa roam around on the offensive side," Palma said. "She was everywhere today and was huge for us.”

Neither team scored for the rest of the period, and it was time for two sudden death periods, but Ortega was not about to let the game go much longer. Just three minutes into sudden death she turned on her defender, and fired a shot through the goalkeeper’s hands and into the net for the game-winning goal--her fourth of the day.

“This is going to be a great memory for me," Ortega said. "I can’t wait to talk to my dad. He is going to be so proud of me. I just hope I can move tomorrow,” Ortega said, laughing.

The Gondoliers will now take on third-seeded Granada Hills Kennedy, which won its playoff opener 5-0. The game will kick off at 3 p.m. next Thursday at Kennedy.