The road to any championship is seldom easy. But that seems especially true for the boys soccer teams at Homestead and Monta Vista as they prepared for the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs this week.
The sixth-seeded Mustangs and seventh-seeded Matadors were both faced with daunting second-round opponents this Saturday … if they were fortunate enough to make it past a couple of worthy first-round foes first.
Homestead, which finished second to Palo Alto in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s De Anza Division by a mere one point in the standings, was to have met 11th-seeded Carlmont (8-10-2) on Wednesday, while Monta Vista was to have faced 10th-seeded Evergreen Valley (9-7-2) on the same day. The winner of the Homestead-Carlmont match will play third-seeded Alisal (10-2-7), and the victor of the Monta Vista-Evergreen Valley contest will advance to meet second-seeded Watsonville (17-0-3) in a pair of Saturday matches. The sites and times of the second round encounters on Saturday were yet to be determined (see cifccs.org for tournament brackets).
Homestead entered the Division I tournament with a 14-5-0 overall record, having gone 9-3-0 in SCVAL play. Monta Vista, which struggled to a 1-6-5 division record, was 7-7-6 overall, thanks to a strong 6-1-1 pre-season.
The Mustangs missed their chance to win the De Anza Division crown when they dropped their last match of the regular season to Los Altos, 2-1. Prior to that, they had won three matches in a row, and five of six. The Matadors were 1-1-3 in their final five matches of the regular season.
Homestead outscored its opponents 30-9 in SCVAL play, while Monta Vista was outscored 13-21.
In the Division III tournament, West Bay Athletic League champion King’s Academy, the 10th seed, was to have met seventh-seeded South San Francisco (8-8-4) on Tuesday with the winner advancing to meet second-seeded Sacred Heart Cathedral (13-3-4) on Saturday at a place and time not yet determined.
The Knights claimed the WBAL title with a 9-3-0 record, edging out Sacred Heart Prep, Menlo School and Harker, which all finished with 15 points. King’s Academy took a 14-3-0 overall record into its CCS opener, having outscored its opposition 54-18 on the year.
Brian Field was the Knights’ leading scorer during the regular season, netting 12 goals and assisting on six others. Rory McMahon, who had a team-leading 10 assists, scored five goals on the season for the WBAL champs.
In CCS Division I play, 13th-seeded Fremont (11-7-1) was scheduled to play fourth-seeded Salinas (10-1-5) Wednesday with the winner moving on to play the winner of the fifth-seeded Carlmont (11-7-2)-12th-seeded San Benito (7-8-3) battle on Saturday.
Fremont finished second to Milpitas in the SCVAL’s El Camino Division this season. The Trojans, who are seeded third in the Division I tourney, were 11-0-1 in league and 17-0-3 overall. Their stern defense allowed only six goals in 12 league matches this season, four of which were scored by Cupertino’s brilliant forward Stephanie Magellan.
The Pioneers (6-5-1 in league, 9-7-2 overall) missed making the section play-offs despite Magellan’s league-leading 19 goals and nine assists.