The Hilltop High School girls field hockey team is off to a 5-0 start in league play and a strong 9-4 start overall to the 2015 season.
The Lady Lancers defeated Otay Ranch, 6-1, in a match-up of league unbeatens on Oct. 7. Both teams entered the high profile encounter sporting 3-0 league records. Hilltop improved to 5-0 in league play following its latest trip to the pitch that resulted in a 5-1 win over Chula Vusta last Friday.
Veronica Romera and Jaelyn Kamanu each scored two goals to lead Hilltop in the win over Otay Ranch while Vanessa Estrada and Christina Vasquez each scored one goal for the Lady Lancers.
Hilltop opened league play with a 9-0 win at Castle Park on Sept. 23, followed by a 2-1 victory at Eastlake on Sept. 30 and a 2-1 win in strokes at Bonita Vista on Oct. 2.
The Lady Lancers rallied from a 1-0 deficit in the game against Bonita Vista to extend the game to the tiebreaker, which the visitors won 1-0 on a flick by Monica Diaz. Vanessa Macias made seven saves in the win, including the 10-minute overtime period.
“It’s always a good game against Bonita Vista, even when I was playing at Hilltop,” explained HHS head coach Janine Dare, who is entering her fifth year as a coach at her alma mater. “It’s always a competitive game.”
Alexa Renwick was credited with the opening goal for the Lady Barons (2-2 in league, 6-6 overall). Hilltop’s Vasquez, assisted by Kamanu, scored with eight minutes to play in regulation play to spoil the shutout bid by BV goalkeeper Kylie Olsen.
Hilltop is the defending league champion and has taken command of the league standings through the opening round of league play.
“We have a lot of juniors, a lot of returners, but they know what it takes to be on varsity,” Dare said. “It was a battle in tryouts. The team we have on varsity this year is here to win it.”
Bonita Vista, which opened league play with a 1-0 win over visiting Southwest on Sept. 18, improved to 2-2 in league play with a key 3-0 victory last Friday at Otay Ranch (3-2 in league 6-9-1 overall)
The Lady Barons lost, 1-0, in strokes at Eastlake on Oct. 7.
Bonita Vista is fielding a fairly young team this season. Head coach Ernesto Luna said his team had nine first-year varsity players in its line-up in the game against Hilltop and played with four girls who had two years of varsity experience.
Despite playing with only two subs on the bench, the Lady Barons were in position to pull off a win against the defending league champions.
“We played a really good game, hats off to Hilltop,” Luna said. “It was very competitive. It could have swung either way. You can always count on a good game with Hilltop. No matter what year it is, you can throw out the records of each team. It comes down to which team has it that day.”
Delia Ochoa, Alyssa Cayabyab and Heather McClendon each scored goals for Bonita Vista in its win at Otay Ranch while Olsen recorded the shutout win.
Hilltop entered this week 13th in the San Diego Section Division I power rankings while Bonita Vista was fourth in the Division II power rankings.
The Lady Lancers defeated El Capitan, 5-0, to face off the season on Aug. 27, lost 5-2 to Bishop’s on Sept. 8 and routed Granite Hills by a 9-0 score on Sept. 16. Hilltop lost consecutive tournament games to Scripps Ranch (8-0), Fallbrook (3-0) and Poway (5-0) on Sept. 19. The defending Metro champions then topped Helix (3-0 on Sept. 22) and Mt. Carmel (2-1 on Sept. 25).
The Lady Barons have compiled non-league wins against Rancho Bernardo (1-0 on Sept. 2), Escondido (2-1 in overtime on Sept. 3), Santana (2-0 on Sept. 15) and University City (2-0 on Sept. 22) while dropping non-league games to Mt. Carmel (3-0 on Sept. 8), Helix (1-0 in overtime on Sept. 17) and La Jolla (5-0 on Sept. 25).
Luna said once his team has gone through the opening round of league play, he will have a better idea of where his team fits in. “We’ll have a better idea of where we’ll finish up in league and we’ll try to improve to get to the division playoffs,” he said. “I’m thinking we might do really well in the division playoffs.”
Otay Ranch faced off league play with consecutive wins against Chula Vista (3-0 on Sept. 23), Eastlake (1-0 on Sept. 25) and Southwest (1-0 on Sept. 30).
Lauren Salaiz netted the winning goal against Eastlake while Johana Luna notched the game-winner against Southwest.
There are seven teams in the Metro Conference league this season.
Eastlake is not to be counted out of contending for this year’s league title after zipping out to a 4-2 league record. The Lady Titans (6-5-1 overall) opened league play with a 1-0 win at Southwest on Sept. 23, followed by one-goal losses to both Otay Ranch and Hilltop, before stopping host Chula Vista, 3-0, on Oct. 2 and hanging a 2-1 defeat on Bonita Vista on Oct. 7.
Eastlake shut out visiting Castle Park, 7-0, last Friday to complete the first round of league play.
Metro Conference Standings
(Through Oct. 9)
Hilltop 5-0, 9-4
Eastlake 4-2, 6-5-1
Otay Ranch 3-2, 6-9-1
Bonita Vista 2-2, 6-6
Southwest 2-3, 5-5-1
Chula Vista 1-4, 2-8
Castle Park 0-4, 0-4
