The Cinderella season continued Tuesday evening for the Bonita Vista High School girls soccer team after surviving a dreaded kicks-from-the-mark tiebreaker win against visiting La Serna in the opening quarterfinal state of the Southern California regional playoffs.
Fifth-seeded La Serna took a 1-0 lead with 19 minutes left in the second half on a goal by senior Jaelynn Lane. Time ticked down from there until the fourth-seeded Lady Barons, fresh off a KFM tiebreaker win four days earlier over Metro-Mesa League rival Mater Dei Catholic to claim the Division I championship.
As in last Friday’s contest against the Lady Crusaders, Bonita Vista came from behind to thrill its vocal fans.
With six minutes remaining in regulation, a scramble in front of the La Serna net ensued and sophomore Theresa Castro managed to poke the ball past Lady Lancer junior ’keeper Julia Moskian to tie the game.
The contest remained deadlocked through a long injury time stretch and proceeded into a 15-minute sudden-victory overtime period.
Bonita Vista had the best chance to win it in extra time as junior Alena Ramirez took a breakaway feed and charged toward the La Serna net, one-on-one with Moskian. But Ramirez shot directly at the La Serna goalkeeper, who deflected the shot wide.
The remaining seven minutes featured a shot by sophomore Theresa Castro that screamed across the goal mouth with four minutes left. The hosts created another dangerous scoring chance with two minutes to play.
The KFM tiebreaker went eight rounds, with Bonita Vista holding a 2-1 lead after the second round and the next five rounds tied with alternating saves, goals and misses.
Sophomore Kaileys Magno converted her spot kick and the La Serna shooter followed with a miss high over the net for a 5-4 advantage for the hosts.
The celebration thus began for the victorious Lady Barons, their fourth consecutive game in which they had fallen behind but lived to tell another tale.
Bonita Vista improved to 11-9-3 while the Lady Lancers finished their season with a potent 18-3-4 record.
The Lady Barons’ playoff performance has come like a whirlwind after placing fourth in the league standings with a 2-4-2 league record, Bonita Vista entered the playoffs with a somewhat tame 8-9-1 overall record.
“Theresa Castro started it after we beat Mater Dei Catholic in penalty kicks, which was our fourth straight win in the playoffs and third come-from-behind win,” BVHS coach Kiko Medina said. “We were the Cinderella team — no one expected us to be here. It stuck and we just rolled with it.”
The Lady Barons, seeded fifth in the divisional playoffs, defeated 12th-seeded Sage Creek, 3-0, in the opening round of the playoffs, then proceeded to upset No. 4 Canyon Crest Academy, 3-2, in the quarterfinals before pulling off a stunning 3-2 win over top-seeded Our Lady of Peace in the semifinals.
Bonita Vista trailed third-seeded Mater Dei Catholic, which defeasted sevneth-seeded Coronado, 2-0, in the semifinals, by a 1-0 score in the championship game before Ramirez tied the game on a head shot. The advanced through a scoreless overtime period, tied 1-1, before the Lady Barons captured the KFM tiebreaker 4-3 to crown themselves division champions.
Castro had two goals while freshman Ava Galvan scored one goal in the upset win over OLP. Sophomore Victoria Sandoval picked up one assist. Mesa allowed two goals but made five saves to preserve the victory.
The Lady Barons received goals from three players in the quarterfinal win: Ramirez, sophomore Sofia Nunez and Galvan.
Anatomy of a victory
Photos by Lee Romero
Nunez scored twice and Castro scored once in the opening win over Sage Creek.
Medina pointed to the resiliency his team has displayed late in the season.
“OLP was a game that we went down 1-0 – we had a defensive mistake,” he said. “We then had a 3-1 lead and had a couple more chances. They came out and challenged us in the second half and we held on.
“We had played them early in the season (a 4-2 OLP victory). Seeing them early we knew what they had. It was huge for us.”
Bonita Vista had lost twice in league play to Mater Dei Catholic by scores of 1-0 and 3-1.
“Both of those games could have gone either way,” Medina said. “Every single game was well played. They felt they could have won it in regulation and we felt we could have won it in overtime. We were pumped when it went to PKs. It’s been a long time for Bonita Vista (to win another CIF title). I thought the last three years were our window. In the Open Division anyone can win. I thought this year would be a rebuilding year for us, but it turned out it wasn’t.”
Next up was Thursday’s regional semifinal clash at top-seeded Granada Hills Charter (14-3-3). The regional final is Saturday should the Cinderella story continue.
Granada Hills defeated eighth-seeded Granite Hills (San Diego Division II champion) by a score of 2-1 on Tuesday.
Lady Titans come up short in Open Division final
Eastlake finished 6-0-2 to capture this year’s Metro-Mesa League championship ahead of runner-up Mater Dei Catholic (4-2-2 in league). The Lady Titans carried a 15-3-2 record into the Open Division playoffs as the No. 2 seed behind No. 1 Patrick Henry.
Eastlake breezed past No. 7 West Hills (15-6-3) by a score of 6-1 in the opening quarterfinals and topped third-seeded (and previously unbeaten) Mission Hills (17-1-5) by a score of 2-1 in the semifinals.
Senior Mia Lane led the charge agiainst West Hills with two goals and one assist while junior Sophia May scored two goals. Seniors Ashley Mekitarian and Lily Stewart each chipped in with a goal and assist.
Lane and Stewart each scored goals in the win over Mission Hills while Mekitarian logged one assist.
Torrey Pines was seeded fifth but pulled off upsets in two of its three playoff matches – dispatching No. 4 Cathedral Catholic by a score of 2-1 in the quarterfinals and defeating No. 8 Westview in a KFM tiebreaker (5-3 after a 1-1 overtime draw). Westview had upset No. 1 Patrick Henry 1-0.
May opened scoring in the championship game in the 12th minute, assisted by Lane. Stewart made it 2-0 in the 38th minute on a header off a corner kick.
The game started at noon on a warm day and players had to be drained, especially while on the attack.
The Lady Falcons wasted little time in equalizing the game on successive goals by Lila Hershey in the 42nd and 49th minutes. A goalkeeper misplay in the 60th minute pushed Torrey Pines into the lead and appeared to deflate the Lady Titans.
The Lady Falcons made no mistake they were going to win when #13 Sophia Young scored on a long free kick from near the touch line in the 65th minute.
It was Eastlake’s first loss since Dec. 12 – a span of 16 games.
“I still consider the season a success,” EHS coach Gabriel Gamboa said. “It was the first time we’ve been to the division final since 2017 or 2018. It was the first time we won league (outright) in four years, a lot of success.
“The first half we definitely dominated. The second half it didn’t go our way. You’ve got to give credit to Torrey Pines. They came out aggressive and shell-shocked us in the second half.”
Lane finished the season with 32 goals and two assists. May had 11 goals and one assist to rank second in team scoring.
Eastlake received the No. 8 seed in the Division I regionals and bowed out with a 3-0 loss to No. 1 Santiago (24-2-2) in Tuesday’s opening round.
Trojans win 4-1, claim second CIF boys title in school history
Castle Park’s Victor Vargas became the first coach in school history to win a CIF soccer championship in both girls soccer and boys soccer.
Vargas, a Hilltop High School alumnus, guided the Lady Trojans to CIF glory in 2015 against Hoover; he led the second-seeded CP boys team to a 4-1 victory against top-seeded Classical Academy in the Division V final on Feb. 22.
“I teach at Castle Park and live in the Castle Park community,” Vargas said. “I grew up in the area. It feels great. I’ve had offers to go elsewhere but I want to retire at Castle Park.”
This year’s division championship was the second for the Trojans, who last won a CIF title in 2010 — 14 years ago.
Castle Park(15-5-4) never trailed, leading 2-0 at halftime on goals by Oscar Cruz and Roberto Escobedo. Classical (16-9-2) got one back early in the second half to trail 2-1. But the Trojans finished what they started with two more goals in the second half – one each by Valentino Artigas and Nicohlas Lopez.
“We got the first two goals and we felt we could sit back a little – we were playing really strong,” Vargas said. “But they came back and then we got one to lead 3-1 and it was a little boost. Once we got that fourth goal, it was a nail in the coffin, and we won comfortably.”
