Diablos Whip Long Beach Wilson to Finish Fifth at Excalibur Tournament

Surely the defending champions of the 21st annual Excalibur Tournament would have wanted to go out in a different way. But a 2-1 victory by Mission Viejo High's girls soccer team over a very solid Long Beach Wilson team to finish fifth in the prestigious tournament was not a terribly bad way to go.

A quick 2-0 lead stood up for the Diablos on Thursday afternoon at Capistrano Valley High.

"I feel like the win gives us confidence," Mission Viejo coach Susie Daher said. "It's a good reference to start league. We use this tournament to fine-tune."

The Diablos begin South Coast League play at home against Aliso Niguel on Jan. 6.

In the 17th minute against Wilson, Jen Stanley skied high to snap a header off the crossbar and into the net from 15 yards away off a corner kick by Jen Belanger.

"I jumped up and ran through it," Stanley said. "For coming back and finishing fifth, we're alright with that. We had a good game against them [Los Alamitos]. For us to potentially lose to the champions and play a great game is good for our team."

Ten minutes later, Morgan Dano made a nice crossing pass to MacKensie Peace, whose quick boot to the high side 10 yards from the goal gave Mission Viejo a crucial two-goal lead.

Wilson scored its goal in the 52nd minute, on a bounce off the foot of Diablos goalkeeper Mikaela Berger, who finished with  two saves.

--Bruce Bourquin

In an earlier game:

Mission Viejo 1, Capistrano Valley 0 -- Katy Fawcett scored off a rebound with four minutes remaining to give the Diablos the victory Thursday morning in a consolation match of the Excalibur Tournament at Capistrano Valley High.

The Diablos (6-4) bounced back after dropping a quarterfinal match to Los Alamitos on Wednesday by outshooting the Cougars, 8-3. Goalkeeper Annie Wedel recorded three saves, including two huge ones at the 12-minute mark of the second half.

It was a heartbreaking loss for the Cougars (6-5-3), who dropped their second straight match after advancing to the tournament quarterfinals. Their best opportunity to score came on a breakaway by Katie Hinman, whose first shot was blocked by Wedel and her rebound sailed just over the crossbar. Moments later, a header by Bailey Hall off a corner kick also sailed over the net.

The Cougars were playing without Alex Hussar, their starting midfielder and one of their most important players, Romero said. Hussar will be out the remainder of the season after undergoing wrist surgery (non-soccer related).

"We were so close. That was a tough way to lose," Capistrano Valley coach Manny Romero said. "We are a very young team competing against some great teams. Losing Alex makes us a different team."

The lone goal came when junior midfielder Natasha Howe centered a pass from the corner to freshman forward Kiana Palacios in front of the net. Cougars goalkeeper Jamie Babiczuk attempted to smother Palacios' shot, but the ball bounced right to Fawcett, who slipped the ball into the wide-open lower left-hand corner.

Fawcett is the daughter of former U.S. Women's National Team member Joy Fawcett.

Babiczuk finished with seven saves.

Capistrano Valley will face Tesoro at home on Tuesday in a Sea View League opener.

-- Mike Casey