Claremont High School Girls soccer won their home non-conference match against Alta Loma High School on Tuesday night by a score of 3-1, bringing their record to 2-0.

The two teams seemed pretty evenly matched, with Alta Loma dominating the momentum for much of the game, but Claremont made it count when they got into scoring position and that made all of the difference.

Claremont’s first goal came six minutes into the first half when midfielder Ryley Settles hit one in from the right side after being fed the ball by forward Karsyn Jordan. Roughly a minute and a half later it was Jordan’s turn, tricking the Braves’ goalkeeper with an unassisted goal over her head, which put the Pack up 2-0.

Alta Loma came into the second half fired up, but at 59 minutes of play it was the Wolfpack who scored once again. Karsyn Jordan, with a team high five points for two goals and one assist, again got one over the goalkeeper’s head with an assist from Julia Cantrell.

Alta Loma’s main offensive strategy seemed to be feeding the ball to their standout player, Leah Pruitt, right in front of the Pack’s net and letting Pruitt do the rest. Unfortunately, this did not work out as Claremont’s defense led by goalkeeper Sydney Fortson, who had seven saves, shut down almost every attempt. Pruitt did eventually score late in the game, but by then it was too late for the Braves to come back.

The Braves also squandered several opportunities where the Pack fouled in front of their own net, but free kicks at close range went wide or high.

Claremont Coach Tim Tracey is optimistic about his team this year. We showed a lot of fight and a lot of intensity, which is something we can work with,” he said after the game. He also noted that the team is healthy and had no injuries.

The next three weeks are dominated by tournament play for the girls.

Boys basketball steps up in OT

The Wolfpack had a cliffhanger on Monday, but held on to defeat Hawthorne, 71-66 in overtime. “We were down by four with 32 seconds and got a steal and basket by Laquamie Bond and two free throws with 3.6 seconds left from Tyler Fraser to send the game into overtime at 62-62,” according to coach Stan Tolliver. In overtime the Pack outscored the Cougars 9-4 clinching the win. Game high honors go to Laquamie Bond with 25 points, Kyle Scalmanini who chipped in with nine points, and Angelo Sandoval who had 10 rebounds.

The boys played Corona on Thursday and have two games in the Artesia Tournament this weekend.

Water polo team still finding their way

Girl’s water polo season is just starting and last weekend the team had their first junior varsity and frosh tournament at Bonita. “We were 1-4 overall but had awesome teamwork and the girls learned a lot from their first games,” said coach Michelle Hernandez.

Freshman Emily Marks had two hat tricks over the weekend, totaling 12 goals during the five games. Sophomore goalie Charlotte Cheng led a strong defense averaging seven blocks per game, many of which were one-on-one. All teams are on the road this weekend with varsity making its first appearance of the season at the Ayala Tournament Thursday through Saturday and junior varsity and frosh at the Segerstrom Tournament Friday through Saturday.

Wrestling team brings home bling

Wolfpack wrestling had its first tournament for freshmen and sophomores at the Gabrielinos 6-way tournament this past weekend and many first time wrestlers brought home medal honors.

In second place were Raymond Ayala at 145, Nicholas Alegria at 152, and heavyweight Ryan Wong. Coming in third place were Jeremiah Alarcon at 106, Malik Hamida at 120, Fernando Navarro and Andrew Beltran at 126, Nathan Chavez at 138, and heavyweight Em Twogood. This Friday and Saturday the varsity team will be competing in a two-day, 10-team tournament also at Gabrielino High in San Gabriel.

Slow start ends up with easy win

On Monday, girls basketball kicked off their winter tournament with a game against Ontario Christian High School, which the Pack won 53-28. The game started out a little slow but the girls picked it up once their nerves subsided, according to Coach Darryl Kennedy. “Overall it was a good team effort by all, but Natalia Bertirotti’s defensive pressure stood out a great deal to me,” he said. “We had a few lapses in there offensively but the girls seemed to smooth them out as we pushed forward through the game.”  

On Tuesday they faced La Mirada, a team that Mr. Kennedy thought will give them a different type of challenge in that they set a lot of screens, prompting a different defense to overcome that type of offense. It apparently paid off as the girls won 51-43. They played Chaffey on Thursday.

Defensive leads way for boys soccer

Boys soccer is off to a big start, winning four games and tying one for a 4-0-1 record. Last week they beat Etiwanda 6-0, Chino 1-0, J. W. North 2-0, and Upland 2-1. On Tuesday they tied Alta Loma 2-2.

The boys do not play again until Wednesday when they have an away game against Covina.

—Steven Felschundneff

steven@claremont-courier.com