Last week was a busy week for local area high school soccer teams as no fewer than nine squads qualified for first round CIF playoffs. Four teams survived to see second round action. At SAMOHI, Coach Serafin’s boys’ varsity, Ocean League champs, dispatched South Torrance 1-0 to advance to an away game against Los Altos High School in Hacienda Heights. The girls varsity, undefeated in Ocean League play, lost in overtime to a feisty squad that came all the way from San Luis Obispo. It was tough loss. The score was tied 0-0 after regulation play, and the Lady Vikings certainly had their chances especially late in the game when they centered a corner kick in front of the goal, caught the opposing keeper out of position and unloaded a huge shot at the net. A San Luis Obispo fullback alertly covered goal and deflected what in hindsight, could have been the winning point for SAMOHI. Instead, the game went into overtime and San Luis Obispo scored the “golden goal” in less than three minutes of play. With only four seniors on the varsity and most of the starters potentially eligible to return next year, 2011 prospects for Coach Jimmy Chapman’s Lady Vikings are bright.
Meanwhile, the Lady Mariners of St. Monica Catholic High School continued their winning ways under coach Maura Diorio with a first round 4-1 win over Montclair Prep. For the first time in memory, St. Monica’s went undefeated in Camino Real League play, a remarkable skein during which they outscored their opponents 35-1. They next face Amino Leadership Academy in El Segundo.
The girls varsity at Brentwood Academy also advanced to the second round with a 1-0 win over Campbell Hall, earning a second round match against Marymount. The Malibu High girls varsity also advanced, defeating Yucca Valley 6-0 in first round playoffs. In something of a “surf versus slopes” second round match, Malibu next plays Mammoth. The bad news is that it is an away game – an away game if ever there were one with a five hour drive to the match. The good news is that once the snow hits Mammoth, its high school plays its home games in Bishop, so that squad will have to travel about an hour to get to their own “home” game.
Other area teams that made it to first round CIF soccer action included both the boys and girls at Crossroads, New Roads boys team, and the boys squad at Malibu High School.
Dave Quick
Mirror Contributing Writercopy@smmirror.com
