Page 8 December 30, 2021 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
Sports from page 3
to the big dance. The Eagles’ grueling playoff
schedule saw them take three long bus rides, two
matches that went to overtime, and face three of
the top four seeded teams; they trailed in three
of the five matches during their playoff run.
The Eagles advanced to the CIF Southern
Section Division 4 Finals after their improbable
wins against highly touted Temescal Canyon 1-0
on the road in the quarter-finals and their 3-2
penalty kick win over St. Margret’s in the semifinals.
In the finals, the Eagles would travel to
San Dimas to face the top-ranked and undefeated
(19-0) Saints. The heavy underdog Eagles scored
first when Michaela Turner spun a defender
and fired off the upper right netting for a 1-0
lead in the 15th minute. With the score tied
1-1, CIF Player of the Year, Chelsie Charles,
got loose down the right side and scored the
eventual game-winner off a pass from Michaela
Turner with 10 minutes to play. In the closing
moments, El Segundo’s defense came through
thwarting shot attempts, and the Eagles celebrated
their first CIF title with their 2-1 win.
The road to the CIF Southern California
Regional Championship game started with a
matchup with Escondido’s Classical Academy
and a 1-0 win. Ciera ‘Kiki’ Doggett received a
pass from Chelsie Charles from the touchline
and scored the game’s only goal. The Eagles
advanced to the semi-finals to face the Exeter
Monarchs and easily defeated the CIF Central
Section Division IV champions 4-0. It set up a
rematch with San Dimas in the CIF Southern
California Regional Championship game. El
Segundo’s early lead disappeared when San
Dimas scored five unanswered goals and
defeated the Eagles 5-2.
Basketball Teams Advance
Head Coach David March had his team
playing with all the energy and excitement of
a Lakers’ Showtime team. With the Eagle’s
57-43 win over South Torrance at home and
73-42 win at Lawndale, the El Segundo Eagles
finished their Pioneer League season undefeated
at 10-0. It was the first time since 2003 they
had won a league title and the first time the
Eagles had gone undefeated in league play
since the 1967 team did it on their way to a
34-1 record overall.
They improved their season record to 13-0
with their hard-fought 71-67 win over the Norco
Cougars. The program’s second-longest winning
streak was behind the 34 games the 1966-67
team established. The Eagles advanced to the
CIF Southern Section Division 3A quarter-finals
to face the top-seeded Shalhevet Firehawks
but fell 67-52.
The girls’ basketball team, led by four-year
starters Jordan Peterson, Story Noble, and
Kristen Tusbaki, finished their regular season
with a win at Lawndale. With it, the Eagles
advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division
3AA playoffs for the third consecutive season
under head coach John Peterson. In the first
round, the Eagles faced Pioneer and fell to the
Titans 60-44 to end their season.
Girl’s Lacrosse has Historic Season
and Boys Advanced to Playoffs
The Lady Eagles had their best lacrosse
season ever, having won the Ocean League
and sporting the program’s best record at 13-5.
Heading into the team’s first-ever CIF Southern
Section appearance against Woodbridge
(Irvine), they had outscored their opponents
212-110. In the first-ever CIF Southern
Section playoff game, the Eagles made history
by defeating Woodbridge 13-4. Syd Moeller
paced El Segundo’s offense by scoring eight
goals, while Grace Bonney had three goals and
one each by Teagan Meyer and Sofia Wight.
Their first-round victory over Woodbridge
(Irvine) catapulted them into the quarter-finals
against second-seeded Corona Del Mar. The
Eagles fell behind early on and fell to one of
Orange County’s elite programs 13-8.
The boy’s lacrosse team finished with a 19-5
first-round loss to San Juan Hills in the CIF
Southern Section Playoffs to end the season
with a 5-7 record. In a rebuilding year, senior
midfielder Ian Michel and junior attacker
Marshall Nakada anchored the offense. Defensively,
senior midfielder Justin Gil and junior
midfielder Duke Sanders stepped straight in
from the overlapping football season to add
to the team’s depth.
Swimmers Continue Legacy
El Segundo High School’s storied swim
program goes back 70 years and continues to
thrive and be successful today. Even a little
pandemic couldn’t keep the team from having
another successful season. This season the
boys won the Pioneer League team title and
had three who won individual titles. The girls
finished an impressive second overall in the
Pioneer League. Only freshman Molly Beetner
won an individual league title when her strong
surge at the end was good enough to win the
100-yard breaststroke in 1:08.62. The girls also
won the 200-yard freestyle relay that consisted
of Gabriela Crother-Collado, Molly Beetner,
Maya Viramontes, and Emery Arnold.
The Eagles had a number of swimmers advance
to the 2021 Ford CIF Southern Section
Swimming Championships. On the boy’s side
Hirota Inoki (senior), Rainer Reczer (junior),
Alexander Cole (sophomore), and Taisei Saito
(freshman) advanced. On the girl’s side Gabriela
Crother-Collado (senior and three freshman
phenoms Molly Beetner, Emery Arnold and
Mava Viramonte all competed.
Baseball and Softball Teams
Left out of Playoffs
For the first time in thirteen years, the
baseball team did not advance to the CIF
Southern Section playoffs. They finished with
the program’s first losing record in nineteen
years when the Eagles went 12-14 in 2002. To
be fair, the team was missing several players
who had been playing other sports as part of
Season One that bled into Season Two. The
Eagles ended their season on a three-game
win streak, including a 6-2 road game with
Lawndale. It wasn’t enough to advance to
the CIF Southern Section playoff for the first
time since 2008.
The Lady Eagles won their last three softball
games of the season, including a 7-0 win over
City Section powerhouse Venice. The softball
program paid homage to its 2021 seniors in
a brief but memorable ceremony before their
last game against Lawndale. The eight seniors
and their intended college are Mya Bennett
Brendan McAndrews was a three-year starter for the Eagles.
(Santa Monica CC), Shanai Owens (Bethune-
Cookman University), Laila Phillips (Cal
State Northridge), Katie Croxall (Weber
State), Leah Abitante (San Diego State),
Kelly Carignan (UC Davis), Isa Gomez El
Camino CC) and EB Steinbacher (UC Santa
Cruz). The Lady Eagles season finished 11-8,
and for the first time, in over twenty years,
they failed to advance to the CIF Southern
Section playoffs.
El Segundo High’s Athletic Department had
crammed football, basketball, softball, lacrosse,
soccer, baseball, swimming, water polo, track
and cross country modified seasons into five
months when restrictions were stringent. While
many other schools experienced fallout from
Covid, El Segundo athletes and supporters
followed all the guidelines and successfully
got through their challenging seasons. •
Sydnee-Anne Moeller helped lead the Eagles to their first-ever
league championship and CIF playoff appearance.
Chelsie Charles helped lead the Eagles to its first CIF title and was
named CIF Player of the Year as a junior.
Preston Engle helped the Eagles to a Pioneer League championship
and the longest win streak in 54 years.
Though the softball team didn’t advance to the playoffs a number of these seniors played in the CIF Southern Section Final as sophomores. The ESHS swim team had a successful season and sent numerous swimmers to compete at the CIF Southern Section finals.
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