Huntington Beach girls soccer in control throughout win over Villa Park

HUNTINGTON BEACH — The Huntington Beach girls soccer team was in control for nearly all 80 minutes of its 2-0 victory over Villa Park in a nonleague match Tuesday at Huntington Beach High School.

The undefeated Oilers (4-0-1), who are ranked No. 5 in Orange County, did a superb job of maintaining possession on the offensive end of the pitch, getting goals from sophomore midfielder Isla Castillo and senior midfielder Olivia Young.

Huntington Beach took advantage of its speed on the wings to move the ball up the field and made sharp passes both laterally and vertically to keep possession.

On defense, the Oilers prevented the Spartans (2-1-2) from putting together any kind of consistent attack.

“I love the way our girls were very creative,” Huntington Beach coach Raul Ruiz said. “They are starting to understand and read each other more, so the more movement of the ball, the better we do. I like our team’s shape on offense.”

Castillo scored the game’s first goal in the 14th minute on a second ball off of a corner kick.

After midfielder Sienna McAthy, a Colorado signee, kicked the ball into the box, the Spartans cleared the ball, but Castillo controlled the clearing attempt and kicked the ball high into the net.

“I just remember like it kind of felt chaotic and it just seemed like the ball was going everywhere and then at the last second like the ball came towards me,” Castillo said. “I took my shot.”

Young scored the second goal in the 37th minute off of a short forward pass from Mia Sanchez.

“I think somehow it got up to her and then she took it inside and then she just passed it to me,” Young said. “It was a really good through ball and it was just right in front of the goal.”

The Spartans had numerous opportunities to add to their lead with cross passes through the box.

Villa Park goalkeeper Madeleine Stang made fine save on a scoring attempt from right in front of the goal in the final minutes of the match.

“I think it’s just our formation,” Young said. “We had a lot of people like spread out wide so I think it was really easy to shift it wide and like switch the field and kind of tire them out, and then once they were a little bit tired, I think it was just easier for us to keep the ball and keep coming.”