Warren High’s Helen Soriano (12) is mobbed by teammates after scoring in the first half against St. Joseph in their non-league girls soccer match at Warren High School on Tuesday. Warren defeated St. Joseph, 3-2. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)

DOWNEY – It may be early in the season for the Warren High School girls soccer team, but the defending CIF Southern Section champions are off to a 3-1 start.

Not only are they off to a good start, but the Bears have amassed 16 goals in those four games against six allowed and one shutout.

Warren defeated the visiting St. Joseph Jesters, 3-2, Tuesday (December 9) in a nonleague game.

The three goals were spread out with one goal each by seniors Allison Bravo, Helen Soriano and Joceline “Jo Jo” Coro.

“The win over St. Joseph really gave the team confidence, and also a clear insight into what we need to continue working on as we move forward,” Warren Girls Soccer coach Lily Dussan said.

“Coming off a CIF Division 2 Championship title, the girls are excited, motivated, and really challenging themselves this season,” Dussan added. “They got a taste of what that level feels like last year, and they’ve been working incredibly hard to get back there.

“We also brought in a new coach, Jazlyn Arevalo, who is coaching alongside me ( Dussan), who has added a fresh, young energy to the program and has been running amazing, high-quality training sessions that the girls have really responded to.

“Our captains and returning seniors, Allison Bravo (senior forward) and Rin Soto (junior goalkeeper), have been doing an excellent job leading this team both on and off the field.”

The Bears, which finished with a 21-4-3 record last season, are coming off their first CIF title in school history with a 2-1 win over Thousand Oaks. They also went on to the So Cal Regional Final, after round 1 and regional semifinal wins.

Five players from that team are now playing in college, which include Mayilen Salazar and Aubrey Camacho of Azusa Pacific University, Alexis Delgado (Cal State Dominguez Hills), Hailey Repreza (Morehead State, Kentucky) and Alexa Martinez (Concordia University of Chicago)

The Bears started this season with a 3-2 loss to Woodrow Wilson of Long Beach, then have since defeated Kennedy, 5-1, Jordan, 6-0 and St. Joseph.

Warren got an early 1-0 lead over St. Joseph with a penalty kick goal by Bravo in the 32nd minute.

It resulted in a hand ball call with the ball bouncing around with a St. Joseph player in the box.

Bravo, who leads the team in goals this season with five, calmly found the back of the net for the score.

“It feels good so far this year, because I still feel we have the team to go far said Bravo, who scored the go-ahead goal in last year’s CIF Championship game. “We all have the potential to win.

“St Joseph is a good team and we fought hard for this win.”

Just a minute later, St. Joseph (1-3) scored to tie the game, 1-1.

St. Joseph junior Gabriella Kripal took a shot outside of the box and it hit off of Soto and back to her and Kripal took it back and scored.

“It was a 50/50 (player on player) and it’s frustrating on my part, but I just need to work on not hesitating,” said Soto, who has recorded five saves in her games this season.

“She had a run and finished it.”

Soto, who amassed multiple shutouts in last season’s championship run, said this years’ team is different.

“Last year we had those seniors that had played all four years, but this year it’s not the same but we’re getting there. Honestly, we’re doing better than what I expected it to be. This year all the seniors are really stepping up, and I enjoy watching them play.”

As for the sudden offense by the Bears, Soto added, “I enjoy watching all of those goals go in.

“I’m proud of my team and I’m glad we got the win,” said Soto, who was in the nets for the championship game last year. “I think we did a pretty good job defensively.”

A couple of defensive stops by senior defender Yuriana Blanco and Hailey Salazar highlighted the early action in the first half.

The Bears began to control the attacking third of the St. Joseph defense in the later part of the first half, as they had multiple scoring run chances, pelting the keeper.

Soriano passed over to Bravo, who took a quick shot, but was turned away from the St. Joseph goalkeeper at the 18-minute mark.

Five minutes later (13-minute mark), junior midfielder Annaliha Elias took a throw in from Coro and turned and took a quick hard shot from the top of the box, but went right to the GK for the stop.

A couple minutes later, senior forward Miley Chacon took a long shot from the right sideline, but again was turned away.

Within the 10-minute mark, senior midfielder Jazlene Caravantes and junior midfielder Leila Camonte were turned away.

The Jesters finally tried to make a run with eight minutes left in the half with a long shot by sophomore Mia Vazquez into the box. But, Soto came way out and took a big hit falling to the ground to make the stop.

A yellow card was handed out to both the player and the coach on the play.

Finally, after numerous scoring attempts, the Bears finally broke through in the 2-minute stoppage time with a shot just under the top of the cross bar over the outstretched keepers hands for the score.

Off of a corner kick, the ball bounced around and ended up on the foot of Soriano outside of the box, who took the long shot for the goal, to lead, 2-1.

In the second half in the 25th minute, Coro came through with a big insurance goal for the Bears.

Off of a corner from Chacon, Coro gave the Bears a 3-1 lead, which eventually turned out to be the game winner.

“Usually I take the corners, but this was kind of an in the moment, snap, we realized the defense was not positioned right and we just kind of went quick,” said Coro, of the scoring play. “We did like a short play and she passed it to me really fast and caught the defense off guard and I dribbled, took a touch and found the top of the goal.”

St. Joseph closed to within a goal with only four minutes remaining in the game.

Soto came way out of the goal and made a diving try at a save, but the ball bounced away from her and the Jesters Lexy Urias took a long shot and scored to trail 3-2.

The Warren defense and Soto took control from there and secured the win in the final four minutes.

Warren continues the action with another nonleague game Saturday (Dec. 13) at La Serna.

First three game goal scorers and assists

Gm. 1 - Wilson 3, Warren 2
Goal Scorers: Allison Bravo, Hailey Salazar (header)
Assist: Jocelyn Coro

Gm. 2 - Warren 5, Kennedy 1
Goal Scorers: Hailey Salazar (header), Ami Noguera (2), Allison Bravo, Sofia Saucedo (freshman – first high school goal)
Assists: Jocelyn Coro, Hailey Salazar, Isabella Lopez Mijango

Gm. 3 - Warren 6, Jordan 0
Goal Scorers: Ami Noguera (2), Allison Bravo (2), Hailey Salazar, Sofia Saucedo
Assists: Sofia Saucedo, Delaney Sullivan, Leila Comente

Warren girls soccer opens season 3-1 after CIF title run