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ENCINO — The El Camino Real girls soccer team has made the Sepulveda Basin Sports Complex its home field this season after LA Unified School District deemed the field at the school an unsafe playing surface.
The facility is nice enough, but team has to take a school bus to get there, and the field doesn’t have a working scoreboard. It’s not holding the Royals back, though, as they added to their shutout streak by beating Palisades 2-0 on Tuesday afternoon in the City Section Division I semifinals.
“I don’t even look at the time, I just want to play,” Sharon Alcocer said, referring to the scoreboard. “It doesn’t matter how long. Forty minutes, 45 minutes, five minutes, you still have to go and play your hardest.”
El Camino Real will go for its 14th City title when it faces Cleveland (winners over Granada Hills in penalty kicks) in the final. The time and location will be announced Thursday, according to the City’s spokesperson.
Alcocer scored both goals in the win. The first one came at 17’ on a shot from inside the penalty area and the second came at the start of the second half at 43’. She launched a long ball that grazed the crossbar and then went down to the back of the net.
“I’m like, I’ve just gotta keep going,” Alcocer said. “Keep on grinding, making good passes to go forward and make my teammates score more goals. Just go at the goal as fast as possible.”
El Camino Real’s offense was without speedy forward Julie Lopez, who was called up to the U20 Mexican National team training camp. Lopez will return for the championship game.
Alcocer and Nikki Velasco shouldered the load offensively for the Royals (14-3-3) in her absence. Velasco won a battle for the ball at 11’ near the sideline, then took it in for an early shot that went wide left of the goal.
Sharon Alcocer scores at 17′ and El Camino Real takes a 1-0 lead over…
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