Thirty years ago, or even more, Bonita Vista High School was the hotbed for girls soccer in South County, the undisputed top team. That has changed somewhat as the region has grown and added more schools — and club programs.
But the Lady Barons have never completely faded away with all of their many awards.
The timeline of tradition continues after Bonita Vista, seeded seventh in this year’s Open Divisionp layoffs placed runner-up in the Elite Eight following last Saturday’s 2-1 overtime setback to the top-seeded San Marcos Lady Knights.
As a bonus, the top four Open Division teams earned the right to compete in this year’s Southern California regional playoffs. The Lady Barons (16-6-2) earned the No. 8 seed in the Division I bracket and advanced to face No. 1 Santa Margarita (18-1-2) in Tuesday’s quarterfinal round.
“We had a great season overall,” said BVHS head coach Kiko Medina, whose team finished runner-up in Metro-Mesa League play with a 5-2-1 record to league champion Easltake (6-0-2 in league). “We were in contention for league but just had some injuries and missing players (like all teams) and still managed to be in contention late. I felt that our tough schedule early on helped prepare us for the league and playoff runs. We are consistently a team that gets better as the season goes on, which always helps come playoff time.
“I do believe our playoff run in the Open Division was done so by pure determination from this group of players. They are gamers and always seem to find a way to compete and keep themselves in games. We have a great mix of stars and role players and have found a way to complement each other. I think we let that final slip away but for us to be in contention the way we were is something to be extremely proud of. We went from Division I champions to Open finalists and that speaks volumes of our program and current group of players.”
The Lady Barons kicked off this year’s playoffs with a two-game sweep of second-seeded Academy of Our Lady of Peace, winning the opener of the aggregate-goal series 4-0 at home on Feb. 18 before securing advancement with a 1-1 draw at OLP on Feb. 20. The Mesa League runners-up won the series 4-1 on aggregate goals.
Senior Alena Ramirez led the way with three goals in the opener against the Lady Pilots (13-4-4) while junior Sofia Nunez notched one goal and one assist. Juniors Victoria Sandoval and Theresa Castro each had one assist while freshman goalkeeper Camille Fuller was credited with seven saves.
Nunez scored the lone BV goal in the rematch while Fuller was once again credited with 11 saves.
Next up was a semifinal clash at No. 6 Torrey Pines after the Lady Falcons upset third-seeded Granite Hills in the quarterfinals by 2-0 and 3-1 scores. Bonita Vista received goals from Nunez and sophomore Ava Galvan to keep moving on in a 2-1 road victory. Ramirez collected one assist while Fuller was credited with 10 saves.
Photos vby Jayden Walls
Bonita Vista High School girls soccer
San Marcos advanced through the bracket without a hitch after eliminating eight-seeded Cathedral Catholic in the quarterfinals by a 5-2 aggregate score and then topping four-seeded Westview, 2-1, in the semifinals.
Westview had eliminated fifth-seeded Eastlake (13-4-5) in the preceding quarterfinals.
In the final, Ramirez flicked in a long pass from Nunez for a 1-0 Lady Baron lead in the 52nd minute and the team was three minutes away from claiming a one-goal victory before the Lady Knights scored the equalizer in the 87th minute.
Palomar League champion San Marcos (18-4-3) then won the game with a golden goal six minutes into extra time.
Goals for San Marcos came from senior Ava Paolini and sophomore Lola Puccio with assists from seniors Sierra McClellan and Sophia Zboyan.
Puccio (from McClellan) netted the game-tying goal while Zboyan fed Paolini on a perfect cornerkick for the game-winner.
Fuller was credited with 11 saves in the loss.
Ramirez paced Bonita Vista in scoring through 20 games with 28 points on 12 goals and four assists, followed closely by Nunez with nine goals and seven assists for 25 points.
Galvan had 21 points on nine goals and three assists while Sandoval had 18 points on seven goals and four assists. Castro accumulated 13 points on five goals and three assists.
Fuller posted a 0.406 goals-against average in 20 matches with 153 saves in 1,378 minutes.
Senior Sophia May keyed Eastlake with 15 goals and 38 points in 21 games, followed on the scoresheet by freshman Braleah Burris with nine goals and 20 points.
Next level
The regionals encompass three rounds — quarterfinals, semifinals and a championship match in five divisions (eight teams in each gender division). No. 8 seed Bonita Vista I was assigned to meet No. 1 Santa Margarita in Tuesday’s opening round.
Tuesday’s winner advanced to Thursday’s semifinals. The highest remaining seed will host the championship game on Saturday.
Nine San Diego Section teams qualified for the regional playoffs. Besides Bontia Vista, San Marcos received the No. 4 seed in Division I while Torrey Pines (Open Division section semifinalist) was seeded No. 8 in Division II, Westview (Open Division section semifinalist) was seeded No. 5 in Division II, Patrick Henry (Division I section champion) received the No. 2 seed in Division III while La Costa Canyon (Division II section champion) received the No. 8 seed, while San Diego (Division III section champion) was seeded No. 8 in Division IV, Tri-City Christian (Division IV section champion) received the top seed in Division V while Lincoln (Division V section champion) was seeded No. 6.
Boys section teams advancing to the regional playoffs included St. Augustine (Open Division section champion) as the Division I No. 4 seed in Division I, Del Norte (Open Division section champion) as the No. 8 seed, San Pasqual (Open Division section semifinalist) as the No. 2 seed in Division II and La Costa Canyon (Open Division semifinalist) as the No. 8 seed, Pt. Loma (Division I section champion) as the No. 4 seed in Division III, Pacific Ridge (Division II section champion) as the No. 1 seed in Division IV, Central Union (Division III section champion) as the No. 3 seed, Classical Academy (Division IV section champion) as the No. 5 seed in Division V and Christian (Division V section champion) as the No. 7 seed.
Raider Nation
Southwest (12-11-1) received the No. 5 seed in Division IV and promptly eliminated three teams — No. 12 Mt. Miguel (4-1), No. 13 O’Farrell Charter (5-0) and No. 8 High Tech High San Diego (2-1 in a kicks-from-the-mark tiebreaker) — to reach the final.
Southwest trailed 2-0 early on, but punched in two second-half goals — a penalty kick by Carla Perez-Aguilar in the 59th minute and a header by Eleni Loya off a cornerkick with 3:58 left in regulation to extend the match into sudden-victory overtime.
But third-seeded Tri-City Christian (18-4-2) responded with its own dramatic ending as freshman Gracie Lisak scored her third goal of the game 6:30 into overtime to seal the victory.
“I’m proud of these girls. They believed in each other and that was one of the biggest turnaround we made from the start of the season,” Southwest coach Ramiro Ramirez said. “They began to trust each other.
Photos by Jon Bigornia
