The Metro Conference made a rather bold statement last season by advancing seven soccer teams to the San Diego Section championship round, with four stepping off the field with coveted division titles.
Count them all:
•San Ysidro defeated La Jolla Country Day, 1-0, to win the Division III boys championship.
•Montgomery outlasted Bonita Vista, 4-3, to capture the Division IV boys championship.
•Chula Vista edged Olympian, 1-0, to win the Division IV girls title.
•Castle Park topped Hoover, 2-0, to claim the Division V girls championship.
Also, Mater Dei Catholic finished runner-up for the Division II title after a 1-0 loss in overtime to Oceanside.
There even was a magical bonus to the 2014-15 season.
Chula Vista qualified for the Southern California Division I boys regional playoffs after advancing to the Open Division semifinals. Given renewed life in the regional playoffs, the Spartans won their next three games to emerge as proud SoCal champions.
It was a fabulous — and perhaps unprecedented — showing by Metro Conference teams.
Fast forward one year and it’s beginning to look like last year’s bountiful harvest of championship trophies might be difficult to top.
Fast forward
Chula Vista’s boys team finished with a 19-2-7 record last season en route to its history-making regional championship. However, the Spartans are 4-7-4 this season with a month to go before the start of the CIF playoffs.
Chula Vista put together a marathon 22-game unbeaten streak last season, but will not accomplish that this season. Still, the Spartans are set to enter league play and will be venturing to capture their third consecutive Metro-Pacific League title.
After that, anything goes.
Chula Vista entered the week 10th in the Division I power rankings. The top eight teams advance to the Open Division, with the remaining teams competing for the Division I championship. If the power rankings hold true to the end of the season, the Spartans would have the No. 2 seed in the Division I playoffs – and a legitimate chance to contend for something they missed last year: a CIF division title.
Chula Vista dropped a 2-0 home match to Montgomery last Friday. The Aztecs (7-1-4 overall) find themselves in good position as the No. 2 team in the Division III power rankings behind No. 1 Mission Hills (12-0-2).
Bonita Vista (5-3-3) is No. 3 in the Division III power rankings. The teams could conceivably meet in the division semifinals if their seeds hold up and their fortunes shine in the early rounds of the upcoming playoffs.
Both the Barons and Aztecs have fared well in moving up a division from last year.
San Ysidro remains in contention to defend its Division II championship with a current No. 4 power ranking to go with a 6-2-2 overall record and 2-0-0 Metro-South Bay League record.
Eastlake (9-3-4 overall) entered the week No. 8 in the Division II power rankings while Castle Park (5-5-1) was ninth, Mater Dei Catholic (6-7-1) was 10th and Olympian (2-6-6) was 14th.
Mater Dei Catholic is off to a 2-0-0 start in Metro-Mesa League play while Bonita Vista is 1-0-1.
Sweetwater (5-3-2) is 11th in the Division IV power rankings while High Tech Chula Vista (4-3-2) is 23rd despite both possessing winning records at this point of the season.
The Division V boys power rankings include 33 teams. Mar Vista (3-9-1) is sixth, while Chula Vista Learning Community Charter (4-6-1) is seventh, Ocean View Christian Academy (1-1-0) is 14th and Chula Vista Calvary Christian Academy (2-6-1) is 22nd.
Girl power
Eastlake (9-1-2) appears to be carrying the torch as the top girls team in the Metro Conference this season. The Lady Titans won the Varsity Open/Premier Division title in December’s Barons Cup tournament by going 4-0-1 in five games (defeating Granite Hills in the final) and haven’t showed any real signs of slowing down since.
Eastlake defeated arch rival Bonita Vista, 2-0, to win its Metro-Mesa League opener on Jan. 20.
If the playoffs started today, the Lady Titans would be the No. 5 seed in the Open Division while Bonita Vista (8-5-1) would be the No. 5 seed in the Division I playoffs. Both teams would face a challenging, though not impossible, journey to reach the championship round.
Eastlake won the Division I championship in 2013 after being seeded second in the playoff draw.
Olympian earned the No. 1 seed in last year’s Division IV playoffs before being upset in the championship round by third-seeded Chula Vista. Both teams have moved up to Division III this season and are once again fighting for high seeds for next month’s playoffs.
Olympian (13-2-2) held down the No. 2 power ranking among the 21 teams in the division entering the week while Chula Vista (8-3-1) was ranked fourth. Other local teams in the division include Otay Ranch (4-4-0, ranked 11th), Chula Vista Learning Community Charter (3-4-2, ranked 19th) and San Ysidro (2-7-0, ranked 21st).
Olympian finished 16-8-3 last season while Chula Vista was 15-9-2.
Olympian won the Varsity Classic Division title at December’s Barons Cup finals.
High Tech Chula Vista (6-2-0) is ranked fifth in Division II while Hilltop (1-7-0) is ranked 18th in the 20-team division.
After winning last year’s Division V championship, Castle Park has moved up to Division IV. The Lady Trojans have been successful thus far with a 6-3-2 record to sit fourth overall in the division power rankings.
Southwest (3-6-0) is ranked second among Division IV teams while Montgomery (9-3-0) is ranked sixth and Mater Dei Catholic (5-8-1) is ranked 11th. Should those teams advance to post-season play, there could be some head-to-head elimination match-ups. Mar Vista (2-8-3) is ranked 18th in the 23-team division.
Sweetwater is the only Metro team represented in the 25-team Division V girls power rankings. The Lady Red Devils (6-6-0) occupy the No. 3 spot, which could be favorable to secure at least one home-field playoff game.
Corner kicks
Southwest (7-4-2), Otay Ranch (4-7-0) and Hilltop (0-13-0) are all guaranteed berths in the Division I boys playoffs. However, the teams currently sit 15th, 18th and 20th overall in the division power rankings (7th, 10th and 12th seeds in Division I). Otay Ranch is off to an 0-2 start in Metro-Mesa play.
Bonita Vista Barons Cup
Varsity Classic Division
Final: Olympian 1, San Diego 0
Semifinal: San Diego 2, HTH Chula Vista 0
Semifinal: Olympian 7, Castle Park 0
Varsity Limited Division
Final: Our Lady of Peace 1, El Capitan 0
Semifinal: Christian v El Capitan defeated Christian, score unavailable
Semifinal: Our Lady of Peace 1, HTH San Diego 0
Varsity Unlimited Division
Final: Point Loma 2, Coronado 1
Semifinal: Point Loma defeated Mission Hills, score unavailable
Semifinal: Coronado 2, Valhalla 0
Varsity Open/Premier Division
Final: Eastlake 2, Granite Hills 0
Semifinal: Eastlake 3, Grossmont 1
Semifinal: Granite Hills 5, Scripps Ranch 3
