The Malibu High School girls varsity won the CIF Southern Section Division 6 Soccer championship last Saturday with a 3-2 win over the returning champs, Desert Christian of Lancaster, at a neutral pitch in Mission Viejo. It is the first such championship in the school’s history. Shark stand out Kristiana Konkol-Mroczkowski scored a hat trick three goals to pace the victory, and Malibu keeper Maddie Clarfield tended goal. Malibu Coach John Johnstone’s squad survived a close call in the semi-finals against Ontario Christian when the game ended tied 1-1, and Malibu advanced on a penalty kick shoot-out 3-2.
Meanwhile, in Santa Monica the AYSO youth teams are having a banner post-season run of their own. Over President’s Day weekend, the girls U10 All-Star team, coached by Gary Berry and Alex Benn, took first place in Riverside’s prestigious Locomotion Tournament, an annual meet which hosts over 3,500 youth players. The champion’s U10 roster includes Lilly Jones, Lauren Auerbach, Hanna Gratch, CJ Benn, Daisy Berry, Rachel Boiteux, Bita Maknouni, Rosie McDonald, Alexis Moran and Alyssa Tohyama. Also at Locomotion, the boys U14 All-Star team captured second place, and the girls U14 All-Stars finished third with a single loss to the tournament champion Corona Elite. Two other Santa Monica teams advanced to the semi-finals, the girls U14 Select Team coached by Gene Shapiro and the girls U10 Select Team coached by Peter Jones. This is the first time Santa Monica AYSO has had as many as five teams in the semi-finals at the Locomotion Tournament.
In late February, AYSO tournament teams braved some really crummy weather to Do once again do battle, this time at the AYSO Section One Tournament also in Riverside. The league’s girls U12 champions, coached by James Langan and Randy Banchik, advanced all the way to the semi-finals and finished fourth, and the girls U14 league champs, coached by Patrick Acosta and Michael DiSanto, finished third.
Last weekend, no fewer than four Santa Monica AYSO teams earned berths in the Section One All-Star Tournament including girls U10 (coached by Gary Berry and Alex Benn), girls U12 (coached by James Encinas and Kevin Brunskill), girls U14 (coached by Dickie Pye), and boys U14 (coached by Sebastian Sciupac). It is the first time in memory that as many as four local teams participated in AYSO’s Section One All-Star Tournament.
Dave Quick
Mirror Contributing Writersports@smmirror.com
