First Suburban League title in sight for Artesia girls soccer

By Loren Kopff

There will still be two more weeks left in the regular season and anything can happen. But if the Artesia girls soccer team can do something it has never done before, at least on the field, then the Pioneers will have a chance of clinching at least a share of the school’s first ever Suburban League championship.
All the Pioneers have to do is knock off league nemesis La Mirada today and thoughts of a league title will be on the minds of the players as well as longtime head coach Octavio Marquez for the next two weeks.
Throughout the majority of the program’s existence, the Pioneers have been towards the bottom of the league with more losing seasons than winning ones. But three seasons ago, Artesia began to turn the corner and has now become one of the league’s fiercest opponents.
“I think it definitely had to be that first year when we finally went to the playoffs,” Marquez said. “We started to get some talent in here; we weren’t losing those girls to Cerritos High School. The thing that helps us a lot is now, the city of Hawaiian Gardens has a club program and girls are signing up and starting to play.”
That season, the Pioneers went 10-10-2 overall, 6-6 in league play and lost a heart breaking 2-1 overtime decision to Laguna Beach in the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section playoffs. The future of the program was beginning to take shape as Marquez had a pair of freshmen and four sophomores who are still making key contributions to this day.
One of those freshmen was 5’ 5” goalkeeper Itzel Gonzalez, who actually began that season as a forward. But Marquez noticed she would be much more valuable between the pipes and made a dramatic change in the middle of the season.
“Before she even came in as a ninth grader, I’ve always heard about Itzel and that she was a really good goalie and also a good field player,” Marquez said. “A goalkeeper is a very important position to have and she gave the team a lot of confidence just knowing you have someone of that caliber in goal.”
Gonzalez still led the team in goals with 14 while one of those four sophomores, Gaby Zamarripa, was third with nine tallies. Those two have been just part of the team’s rise to fame lately. But the success of that season carried on into last season with much better results in more ways than one. The program was beginning the see the emergence of two of the league’s top players-sophomore Jasmine Cornejo and freshman Carolina Ornelas. Cornejo was a transfer from Millikan High School and immediately opened a lot of eyes with a school record 24 goals, over half of them in league action, and eight multiple goal games. That record is bound to be eclipsed this season and possibly again next season.
“You don’t see too many girls scoring 24, 25 goals for a high school team,” Marquez said. “It’s very rare that it happens. It was a blessing in disguise that we got her over here.”
“It was pretty amazing transferring and being new and helping,” Cornejo said. “I didn’t think I was going to break records. When I found out I was doing all of those things, I got happy.”
As for Ornelas, who stands at 4’ 11”, she wasn’t even sure how much playing time she would get. But after scoring 15 goals, including three games of two goals, the Pioneers had themselves a lethal scoring punch on the front line. Last season, at least one of those two scored in 16 of the 19 games that Artesia found the back of the net.
“I thought I was going to be on the bench all of the time because I was competing against seniors,” Ornelas said. “But I started to get to know the girls well and I played well with them.”
“It really helps when you get talent; it helps build the program a lot easier,” Marquez said. “Before, we weren’t getting the talent. It was either the girls had not played soccer or had only played one or two years. It was just tough. The Hawaiian Gardens Eagles soccer club…we’re very fortunate for them to start some club teams. Most of our soccer girls come from that city.”
Cornejo and Ornelas have known each other for about four years and both of them play for the Hawaiian Gardens Eagles. In fact, they have quickly become best friends both on and off the soccer field.
Another turn the page moment last season came when the Pioneers upset Mayfair 2-1 in overtime on Mayfair’s turf. That win signified the Pioneers weren’t going away anytime soon and Marquez stated that was the biggest win he has had while at Artesia. In fact, just four days earlier, the team had fallen to La Mirada 2-1 at Artesia but later was given a forfeit victory as a result of the Matadores playing an ineligible player. That was the first victory ever against La Mirada.
But this season, Artesia has gone farther than ever thus far with a 14-3-1 overall mark, 6-1 in league after its 5-1 home victory under the lights against Bellflower. Both win totals are one away from the school record. Cornejo posted her second hat trick of the season against Bellflower and now has 20 goals this season while Ornelas has 17 and Zamarripa half a dozen. The rest of the team has combined for six other goals. Marquez said he constantly preaches to his two forwards about demanding the ball as the two speedsters are very dangerous on one on one situations.
“To have a combination of two forwards like that is just great to have,” Marquez said. “I think their stats back it up. They have proved it on the field.
“I don’t think I’ve ever dreamed of having a one-two combination scoring punch,” he added. “My goal here was to build a team competitive enough to make the playoffs. Making the playoffs to me was more important.”
Entering today’s game, Cornejo has 44 goals as a Pioneer, six off the all-time school record held by Meghan Pasos. Zamarripa has 37 career goals and Cornejo has 32 career goals, good for fourth and fifth all-time respectively.
“Gaby should deserve a lot more credit than she really does,” Marquez said. “She just creates a lot for our two forwards and brings a lot of attention from opponents. There are times where I tell her she needs to be a little more selfish.”
Again, the two forwards have been involved in the scoring in all but one game in which Artesia has scored a goal. Cornejo has scored at least two goals seven times, four for Ornelas.
“When we get on the field, we always tell each other we have to score,” Cornejo said. “I always tell her she has to score and she tells me I have to score. I don’t think of it as I have to be better than her.”
Not to be forgotten is the work Gonzalez has done in the past season and a half. Since the beginning of last season, the Pioneers have allowed 48 goals in 42 games and Gonzalez has posted 12 shutouts. In front of her, the Pioneers have received stellar defensive work from juniors Sashan Green and Jazmine Meza and sophomores Jenny Gomez, Stephanie Torres and Anna Zamarripa and freshmen Tiffany Castillo, Stephanie Flores and Andrea Murguia, among others.
“Not only is she a good student in the classroom, but she has become a leader ever since her freshman year,” Marquez said of Gonzalez. “She’s been a captain and it has shown. Her leadership has grown.”
If the Pioneers haven’t shown the rest of the league they are for real, just check out their 5-1 victory at Mayfair on Jan. 21. Cornejo posted a hat trick as Artesia has now scored eight goals in its past four games against the defending league champions. Now, the focus is on beating La Mirada, which blanked the Pioneers 3-0 on Jan. 7. If Marquez can finally beat the Matadores, then only a league title, a playoff victory and a CIF championship will be the only feats left to complete on his Artesia girls soccer resume.
“Mentally, we weren’t there,” Marquez said. “I was able to scout La Mirada a couple of times and I told the girls what needed to be done in order for us to be successful. It was 3-0 at the half and the game was over. The second half was more different. I thought we competed better in the second half.”
Artesia will visit Cerritos on Monday and Norwalk on Wednesday before finishing the regular season at home against Mayfair and at last place John Glenn.
“We just worked hard last year and did pretty well to get to where we were,” Cornejo said.
“This year we’re doing much better than last year,” Ornelas said. “We lost one of our starters but this year we’re better with younger players.”