Castle Park High School girls soccer coach Victor Vargas said his team is continuing to progress in the right direction.
“We had 60 girls come out this season and we filled all three teams — varsity, junior varsity and novice,” he said. “In each of the last two seasons, we’ve doubled our win total. We had two wins two years ago and we had four wins last year, and now we have 10 wins this year.”
That 10th win was easily the biggest of the season — and in school history — as the Lady Trojans’ 1-0 defeat of top-seeded Classical Academy last Saturday catapulted Castle Park to Friday’s San Diego Section Division V championship game.
It will be the first appearance by a CPHS girls soccer team in a section division championship game. The fifth-seeded Lady Trojans (10-12-2) will play sixth-seeded Hoover (11-7-1). Kick-off is 5 p.m. at Madison High School.
After posting two upset wins (7-0 over fourth-seeded Julian and 1-0 over Classical Academy), Castle Park is hoping to continue its championship trek against the Lady Cardinals, who eliminated seventh-seeded Montgomery, 1-0,
“We know that the game isn’t going to be easy — finals never are,” Vargas explained. “We will continue to play the way we have all season. We will try to win the game in the midfield with short passes. We hope to make history and give Castle Park its first ever girl’s soccer banner!”
A good showing by the Lady Trojans could just do that, though soccer remains a game of quirky plays and unexpected turns.
Castle Park finished regular season play 8-12-2 overall, 1-5 in Metro-Pacific League play. Eight teams qualified for the Division V playoffs. The Trojans were among three South County teams in the division, joining Montgomery and second-seeded Chula Vista Learning Community Charter.
Montgomery upset CVLCC, 2-1, in the quarterfinals, played Feb. 25, while Castle Park made the long drive to Julian a succesful one.
Sharon Montoya scored two goals in the game against the Lady Eagles (12-5-2), while teammates Ashley Guzman, Kim Navarro, Christina Hernandez, Lulu Rios, and Ysela Flores each scored one goal.
“We knew it could be difficult after a long drive up to Julian and that the elevation could also be a factor,” Vargas said. “We pressured from the beginning and created opportunities. Once we scored the first goal, we knew more would come. Games like this you need the first one to go in first and the girls did great!”
Guzman scored the game-winning goal in the semifinal win over Classical Academy (17-2-2).
Vargas called this game “much closer.”
“Classical defended with five defenders and played with one forward,” the CPHS coach noted. “This gave our team the chance to push defenders up and contribute to the attack. We scored in the first half and created a few scoring chances in the second half but couldn’t score again. Classical attacked to the end and gave us a scare in stoppage time when our goalkeeper, Alejandra Santos, slipped on a play that almost resulted in sending the game to overtime.”
Getting their kicks
The Lady Trojans are one of three Metro Conference teams that will be making appearances in this weekend’s section championships.
Top-seeded Olympian (16-7-3) will meet third-seeded Chula Vista (14-8-2) in the Division IV championship game Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Madison High School after eliminating fourth-seeded Mater Dei Catholic (12-9-3) by a score of 3-0 in Wednesday’s semifinals.
The Eagles received goals from juniors Jazleen Wharry and Amanda Quintero and sophomore Betsy Ornelas while senior Breanna Bonilla received credit for the shutout victory in the win over the Crusaders (12-9-3).
Chula Vista advanced with a 2-1 victory against seventh-seeded Monte Vista in a semifinal match played Wednesday at Montgomery High School. The Spartans received goals from Damaris Aguila and Kimberly Maderos.
Olympian kicked off the playoffs with a 3-1 victory against ninth-seeded Fallbrook (6-13-5) last Saturday while Mater Dei Catholic edged fifth-seeded San Diego Jewish Academy, 1-0, in a game played Monday.
Chula Vista defeated Southwest El Centro, 3-1, in last Saturday’s quarterfinals at Mater Dei Catholic High School while Monte Vista (13-11) stunned second-seeded Southwest, 1-0, in a game played on the Raiders’ home turf.
Almost famous
San Ysidro and Mar Vista tied for the Metro-South Bay League championship with 4-1-1 league records.
San Ysidro (11-8-2) received the No. 10 seed in the Division III playoffs and ended its season with a 2-1 loss to seventh-seeded Pacific Ridge on Feb. 25.
Mar Vista (10-12-1) received the No. 11 seed in the Division IV playoffs and ended its season with a 1-0 loss at sixth-seeded Southwest El Centro on Feb. 25.
Otay Ranch (12-7-4) received the No. 4 seed in the Division III bracket, but dropped a 1-0 decision to fourth-seeded Serra (8-9-5) in last Saturday’s quarterfinals.
Hilltop (13-7-4) won this year’s Metro-Pacific League championship with a 5-0-1 league record but fell, 2-0, to sixth-seeded Poway (12-8-2) in the opening round of the Division I playoffs on Feb. 25. The 11th-seeded Lady Lancers hosted the game as a league champion.
High Tech Chula Vista, last year’s Division III section champion, received the No. 5 seed in this year’s Division II playoffs and dropped a 4-2 upset decision to 12th-seeded Santana (14-3-5) to end its season. The Frontier League champion Lady Bruins (7-0-1) finished 9-11-4 overall.
Bonita Vista (13-6-2) and Eastlake (16-3-1) both qualified for the Open Division playoffs. Metro-Mesa League champion Bonita Vista, seeded sixth, ended its season with a 3-0 loss to third-seeded Scripps Ranch in quarterfinal action on Feb. 25 while Metro-Mesa League runner-up Eastlake, seeded seventh, bowed out of this year’s playoffs with a 4-0 quarterfinal loss at second-seeded Carlsbad.
Bonita Vista captured this year’s Metro-Mesa League championship with a 7-1-0 record; Eastlake finished two points behind the Lady Barons in the league standings with a 6-1-1 mark.
The teams traded wins in league play, with a scoreless tie at Otay Ranch (1-4-3 in league) accounting for the difference, according to EHS coach Mark Coziahr.
