Palisades Soccer Squads Prevail

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Just ask players on the Palisades High girls soccer team who entered Thursday's City Section first round playoff game supremely confident despite the fact that the opponent, Woodland Hills Taft, handed the Dolphins their only loss, 1-0, early in the season. 

Palisades (20-1-1) has improved greatly since then and with senior captain and last year's leading scorer Kathryn Gaskin leading the way, the Dolphins showed how much better they are by turning the tables on the Toreadors with a hardfought 1-0 win at Stadium by the Sea.

Samantha Elander's tally midway through the second half was the difference in a physical game that had all of the intensity one might expect in a championship game. The game-winner was Elander's 15th goal this season and she is second on the team in that category behind Katie Van Daalen Wetters (18). 

It was the 12th consecutive game in which the second-seeded Dolphins did not allow a goal as Kiki Bailey made six saves for her 17th shutout.

In addition to its win earlier this season, 15th-seeded Taft (6-13-6), which finished fifth out of six teams in the perennially tough West Valley League, beat Palisades 3-0 last year and tied the Dolphins 2-2 in 2008.

Palisades will host either No. 7 Huntington Park or No. 10 Birmingham in the quarterfinals next Thursday.

Boys Soccer

The boys' team made a statement early during Wednesday's City Section Large Schools playoff opener, scoring twice in the first half on their way to a 3-1 victory over 28th-seeded Granada Hills Kennedy at Stadium by the Sea.

Palisades (13-1-5) got goals from Shane Centkowski, Kyle Warner and Alex Anastasi off assists from David Joy, Steve Diaz, Johnny Lambour and Zachary Peters-Vernier to keep the visiting Cougars on their heels for most of the game.

Kevin Ortiz scored 10 minutes into the second half for Kennedy (12-5-6), which was seeded surprisingly low despite finishing second in the Valley Mission League behind San Fernando, the No. 1 seed in the 32-team tournament. 

Goalkeeper Brandon Newman made nine saves as the fifth-seeded Dolphins moved on to Friday's second round where they host 12th-seeded Jefferson at 3 p.m. at Stadium by the Sea. The Democrats (16-3-7), runners-up in the Southern League, beat No. 21 Taft 3-2 in the first round.

Palisades has scored 65 goals and allowed only 14 this season. Anastasi leads the team with 11 goals while Centkowski and Diaz each have 10. David Joy has a team-best 12 assists.