RECAP: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EAGLES, LA SURF SOCCER CLUB

Written By: Nick Williams

CONSISTENCY IS KEY FOR LA SURF AS CLUB EARNS FIRST WIN OF 2024

LA Surf Soccer Club gets its first win of the season in a 3-0 shutout against the Southern California Eagles on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. (PDT) at Fullerton College.

LA Surf’s Head Coach, Bernard Hoffrogge, who is also the women’s assistant coach at Pomona College, says a large part of the game plan was its counterattack.

“We let them [Southern California] possess the ball in their own half and then chose our moments to win and counter,” Hoffrogge said. 

He also said they had been working on its mid-block, a defensive strategy that denies the opposing team space to play through the middle of the field.

Janessa Groves scored her second goal of the season in the 9’ minute before Isabella Salas doubled the lead in the 14’ minute to put LA Surf up early, 2-0.

Hoffrage said winning its individual battles played a big role in their win.

“We were connected as a team, but also had some fantastic individual performances,” Hoffrogge said. “We talked a lot about winning our individual battles and we did that for the full 90 minutes.”

From its previous two losses, Hoffrogge said they learned a great deal.

“Consistency is key. You can’t have a solid 60 minutes and a poor 30 minutes and expect to leave with points,” Hoffrogge said. “Limiting our mistakes in dangerous areas was the difference between today and our past two games.”

Surf’s  third, and final goal, was scored in the 73’ minute by Sophie Stanley, an upcoming sophomore at Saint Thomas Aquinas College (Orangeburg, N.Y.)

“Sophie Stanley excelled tonight,” Hoffrogge said. “Due to a few injuries, she had a larger role tonight and made the most of it.” 

LA Surf’s defense shined, holding the Southern California Eagles scoreless.

“I was really impressed with our back line, Abby Buys, Taylor Norman, Brianna Weber, and Megan Rucker,” Hoffrogge said.

Both the LA Surf Soccer Club and the Southern California Eagles have quite the break until their next match on June 16th.

La Surf Soccer Club faces off against MISS KICK FC at 5:30 p.m. (PDT), whereas the Southern California Eagles face Beach Futbol Club at 6:30 p.m. (PDT).