San Ysidro High School is quickly becoming the home of champions after the Cougars captured their second consecutive San Diego Section title in boys soccer last weekend.
The top-seeded Cougars defeated the second-seeded La Jolla Country Day Torreys, 1-0, on a dramatic free-kick goal by Hector Cruz in the final minute of regulation play in last Saturday’s Division III final at Mesa College.
The teams had been embroiled in a scoreless standoff until Cruz’s game-winning goal. LJCD goalkeeper Ali Moradi made six saves to hold up his end.
The section title is the second consecutive for the Cougars after winning last year’s Division IV championship.
Cruz credited hard work and team chemistry for the team’s success, calling his team his soccer “family.”
Getting their kicks
Metro-South Bay League champion San Ysidro (15-3-4) concluded a perfect 3-0 run to this year’s title after defeating ninth-seeded Steele Canyon, 1-0, in the quarterfinals on Feb. 27 and fourth-seeded Vista, 3-2, in the semifinals on March 3.
LJCD (17-5-5) finished 2-1 in this year’s playoff field after opening with victories against seventh-seeded Monte Vista in the quarterfinals (5-3 in the shootout tiebreaker) and third-seeded Eastlake in the semifinals (3-2 in the shootout tiebreaker).
The Torreys, who finished third in the Coastal League standings, completed all three playoff games without scoring a goal in regulation or overtime.
Sister act
San Ysidro’s boys soccer team was joined in last weekend’s CIF championship finals by the school’s girls basketball team, which recorded a runner-up finish in the Division IV championship game played last Friday at the University of San Diego.
While it was a disappointing ending to the season for the 13th-seeded Lady Cougars, they left their calling card in the 16-team divisional field after eliminating three higher-seeded teams.
SYHS athletic director Terry Tucker said having two teams in the championship finals during the winter sports season underscores the emerging talent at the school.
“It’s another positive for the community,” Tucker said. “It proves that if you work hard, you can be successful in anything once you get into high school and beyond.”
Cougars on the prowl
San Ysidro tipped off post-season play by repelling fourth-seeded Francis Parker, 51-48, in first-round play on Feb. 25 and followed that with a 53-39 upset win over fifth-seeded Southwest El Centro in the quarterfinals on Feb. 28.
The Lady Cougars (9-17) stunned top-seeded Calvin Christian, 53-46, in the semifinals on March 3 to advance to the championship game against second-seeded El Capitan. The Lady Vaqueros (19-8) ended San Ysidro’s Cinderella season with a 55-41 victory.
“El Capitan did a fantastic job,” San Ysidro girls basketball coach Alex Vargas offered in gracious defeat. “Their coach made adjustments to what we were doing. I thought we played more relaxed in the fourth quarter (14-14 draw on the scoreboard). That team is just fantastic.”
disadvantage in the height (and thus rebounding) department, still hung close to the Grossmont Valley League champions throughout most of the first half of the game.
San Ysidro trailed, 7-6, midway through the opening quarter and climbed back to 11-10 on the scoreboard until Kassidy Kygar dropped in a pair of shots from the free-throw line to give El Capitan a 13-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Lady Cougars proved tenacious in the early moments of the second quarter by hugging tight with scores of 13-12 and 15-14 before going into an extended scoring drought. A pair of foul shots by Valerie Renfrow pushed the Lady Vaqueros to a 21-14 lead with 1:47 left in the quarter.
The first half ended with El Capitan holding a 21-16 advantage.
The Lady Vaqs took control of the game in the third quarter by outscoring San Ysidro 20-11 to lead 41-27 entering the final quarter.
Brandy Cabrera and Destiny Zamudio both scored in double digits for San Ysidro. Cabrera led the Lady Cougars with 15 points while Zamudio dropped in 10 points. Gaby Perez contributed eight points while Isabel Walter had four points and teammates Imani Walters and Stephanie Bernache each scored two points.
Renfrow topped all scorers in the game with 25 points while grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds. No other Lady Vaquero finished in double-digit scoring. Kygar and Cierra Cutler each had nine points while Grace Burkett contributed six points, Marie Cook had four points and Mac- Kenzie Mead had two points.
El Capitan out-rebounded San Ysidro 56-39. Imani Walters and Bernache each totaled seven boards for the Lady Cougars while Mead tacked on nine rebounds for the Lady Vaqs.
San Ysidro was whistled for a game-high 23 fouls and the East County round-ballers proved exceptionally adept at the free-throw line, hitting 17 foul shots to just six for the Lady Cougars.
Zamudio also had four assists in the game while Isabel Walters had three steals.
“We’re very proud of the girls,” Vargas said. “Their goal was to win a championship. We came out to play the best we could, and take it one game at a time. We came up a little short in the last game.”
