But Friday night, the Sea Kings’ thoughts were on the left-handed Churnside, who runs an effective inside-outside combination with fellow Spartans senior Christina Miyabe.
“It’s hard to guard them,” CdM Coach Aaron Chaney said. “They isolate [Churnside] on the post, and they put [Miyabe], who’s a great shooter, up on top. What do you do? Do you drop off of [Miyabe] so she can shoot it, or do you press her? Then [Churnside] is open. It’s really tough. We adjusted to bring somebody over and help out.”
CdM’s best defense may have been a potent early offense. The Sea Kings, who are the top-ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division I and have now won 14 games in a row, opened up a 3-0 lead in the first five minutes of the game.
Junior Victoria Kennedy scored from set, then senior Allison Peotter scored from seven meters out. Junior Heather Van Hiel added a goal from five meters, giving CdM a 3-0 lead with 2 minutes, 47 seconds left in the first quarter.
But Villa Park (16-7), the No. 2 ranked team in Division II, kept battling. The Spartans scored twice to end the quarter, a goal from Churnside and one from senior Alexis Mitchell, and much of the second quarter went by with CdM holding the tenuous 3-2 advantage.
Churnside drew five CdM exclusions in the first half alone.
“At the beginning, we weren’t going to drop off [Miyabe], but as the game went on we decided to drop,” Van Hiel said. “It’s better that way. We’d rather have the outside shot, because we know [Kate Baldoni] can block it.”
Baldoni, who finished with 14 saves, got a big block with CdM a player down midway through the second quarter. She fed it ahead to Van Hiel, who scored a one-on-nobody to push the lead to 4-2.
