There they were last March — the Chula Vista and Castle Park high school girls soccer teams hoisting San Diego Section divisional trophies. Was the hardware too heavy? Was it a dream?
Well, it certainly was a dream season for both the Lady Spartans and Lady Trojans.
Fifth-seeded Castle Park defeated sixth-seeded Hoover, 2-0, to win the Division V championship while third-seeded Chula Vista edged top-seeded Olympian, 1-0, to claim the Division IV title.
The CIF championships were the first for both schools in girls soccer.
But, as anyone can say, that was last year. What are these ladies doing for themselves this year?
Actually, a lot of positive things. And, as anyone can say, this season isn’t over yet.
Both teams expect to qualify for the upcoming San Diego Section playoffs. But neither side will defend their division title in the division they won it in last season.
The Lady Spartans will be competing in Division III this season while the Lady Trojans move up to Division IV. The move up to tougher competition tiers looks to make the bid to repeat as CIF champions that more challenging.
But both teams are looking forward to that challenge. Chula Vista has a significant number of players returning off last year’s Division IV championship team while Castle Park has the same.
“We were a very young team last year and we’re still a young team,” CPHS head coach Victor Vargas explained.
Chula Vista head coach Carolina Soto had been hoping to hang a long-awaited league championship banner in the school’s gymnasium this season. There are lots of league banners in the Spartan gym, but none in girls soccer since the 1970s.
The Lady Spartans definitely had their chance this season. An apparent 3-0 victory at Castle Park on Feb. 11 was overturned when it was determined Chula Vista used an ineligible player in the match. The win would have given the Lady Spartans a 3-0-1 Metro-Pacific League record with two matches to play, including a key clash at Hilltop on Feb. 17.
But the forfeiture dropped the Lady Spartans to 2-1-1 in league play, trailing Hilltop (3-0-1 in league play) and a tick ahead of Castle Park, which improved to 2-2-0 in league play with the forfeit win.
Chula Vista still had a chance to walk off the pitch with this year’s league title by winning its final two games. But a 1-1 draw at Hilltop in that Feb. 17 contest dramatically changed the picture.
The Lady Lancers improved to 3-0-2 in league play while the Lady Spartans saw their record extended to 2-1-2 with one match remaining. Meanwhile, Castle Park defeated Sweetwater, 3-1, on Feb. 17 to improve to 3-2-0 in league play.
Moreover, Castle Park ended its season with a Feb. 19 match at Hilltop. Should the Lady Trojans score an upset win, they would win the league title, with the Lady Lancers finishing in a second-place tie with Chula Vista.
But the Hilltop-Castle Park match ended in a scoreless tie, thus handing the league title to Hilltop (3-0-3) by a narrow one-point margin over Chula Vista (3-1-2). Castle Park (3-2-1) finished one point behind the Lady Spartans in the league standings and two points behind league champion Hilltop.
Sweetwater finished 0-6-0 in league play.
Chula Vista led, 1-0, in its pivotal Feb. 17 match at Hilltop, with the Lady Lancers tying the match in the second half. That second-half goal proved to be the “golden” one that secured this year’s league championship for Hilltop.
“To have the opportunity to play for a league banner and a chance to win a second banner in my third year here (was) unexpected,” said CPHS head coach Victor Vargas, a Hilltop alumnus. “We won a CIF banner before we won a league banner. That doesn’t happen very often. Usually, it’s the other way around.”
All four Metro-Pacific League teams were in action this week as the San Diego Section playoffs kicked off.
Hilltop shaded Escondido Charter, 2-1, in a Division II play-in game on Monday while Chula Vista (Division III), Castle Park (Division IV) and Sweetwater (Division V) all kicked off divisional play on Tuesday.
Eighth-seeded Castle Park shut out ninth-seeded Foothills Christian, 2-0, while sixth-seeded Chula Vista edged 11th-seeded San Diego, 1-0, to advance to Friday’s quarterfinals.
Freshman Yered Quevedo scored two goals to lift the Lady Trojans, last year’s Division V champions. The assist on the second goal went to Alejandra Santos while freshman goalkeeper Veronica Vasquez recorded the shutout
Alahna Perez scored the only goal of the match on a free kick to boost the Lady Spartans, last year’s Division IV champions.
Seventh-seeded Sweetwater (6-15-0) ended its season with a 3-2 loss in kicks from the mark at second-seeded El Cajon Valley.
Hilltop, moving into the 12th-seeded position in the bracket, advanced to meet fifth-seeded University City in Tuesday’s opening round. The Lady Lancers (7-11-5) ended their season with a 5-2 setback.
In the next round, Chula Vista (14-5-3) will play at third-seeded Our Lady of Peace (12-2-8) while Castle Park (12-7-4) will play at top-seeded Fallbrook (14-5-4). Both games are scheduled to kick off at 5 p.m.
The division semifinals follow on Tuesday, March 1. The division championship games in Division III and Division IV are scheduled Saturday, March 5 — Division III at Mesa College (11 a.m.) and Division IV at Olympian High School (11 a.m.)
Corner kicks
Chula Vista Learning Community Charter defeated High Tech North County, 3-0, in a Division IV play-in game on Monday to earn the No. 12 seed. However, the Cobras (6-10-3) dropped an ensuing 2-1 opening round match at fifth-seeded Preuss UCSD in Tuesday’s opening round.
Fourth-seeded Southwest (9-9-1) will host Preuss (10-5-2) in Friday’s Division IV quarterfinals.
Top-seeded Olympian (17-5-3) will host eighth-seeded Mira Mesa (12-5-5) in Friday’s Division III quarterfinals.
Sixth-seeded Montgomery (14-5-3) will play third-seeded El Centro Southwest (17-2-1) in Friday’s Division IV quarterfinals.
Eighth-seeded Eastlake (13-3-4) kicked off the Open Division quarterfinals with an 8-1 loss at top-seeded Cathedral Catholic (21-3-3) on Tuesday.
In a Division III first round match on Tuesday, 10th-seeded Valley Center (9-8-3) blanked seventh-seeded Otay Ranch (7-12-2) by a 1-0 score.
San Diego Section Playoffs
Girls Soccer
Open Division
Quarterfinals
Tuesday, Feb. 23
(1) Cathedral Catholic 8, (8) Eastlake 1
Division I
First Round
Tuesday, Feb. 23
(11) La Jolla 1, (6) Bonita Vista 0 (OT)
Division II
Play-in Round
Monday, Feb. 22
Hilltop 2, Escondido Charter 1
First Round
Tuesday, Feb. 23
(5) University City 5, (12) Hilltop 2
(7) Valhalla 5, (10) High Tech Chula Vista 0
Division III
First Round
Tuesday, Feb. 23
(6) Chula Vista 1, (11) San Diego 0
(10) Valley Center 1, (7) Otay Ranch 0
Quarterfinals
Friday, Feb. 26
(1) Olympian 3, (8) Mira Mesa 1
(6) Chula Vista 3, (3) Our Lady of Peace 1
Semifinals
Tuesday, March 1
(4) Helix at (1) Olympian, 5 p.m.
(6) Chula Vista at (2) Mission Vista, 5 p.m.
Division IV
First Round
Tuesday, Feb. 23
(8) Castle Park 2, (9)Foothills Christian 0
(6) Montgomery 4, (11) Ramona 0
(5) Preuss UCSD 2, (12) Chula Vista Learning Community Center 1
Quarterfinals
Friday, Feb. 26
(1) Fallbrook 2, (8) Castle Park 0
(6) Montgomery 0, El Centro Southwest 0 (Montgomery wins on KFM)
(4) Southwest 4, (5) Preuss UCSD 0
Semifinals
Tuesday, March 1
(4) Southwest at (1) Fallbrook, 5 p.m.
(6) Montgomery at (2) Sage Creek, 5 p.m.
