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Homestead hoping to repeat
Monta Vista girls off to a winning start
By DICK SPARRER
Soccer followers couldn't have asked for much more at Homestead High School last winter.
After all, the Mustangs won league championships in both boys and girls competition in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
But can the Mustangs repeat? Well, that will certainly be no easy task.
Luis Comesana figures his boys squad could be a contender again in the De Anza Division. But Sarah Johansson isn't quite sure what to expect as her girls move up from the El Camino Division to the more competitive De Anza circuit.
Mustangs move up
"We've moved up a division this year and will play tougher teams," said Johansson, whose squad posted a 12-0 mark to win the El Camino crown a year ago. "But we should be able to compete evenly with most teams."
They certainly have so far. The Mustangs are 5-2-3 in the young season, and 2-1-1 in league play. They fought powerful St. Francis to a scoreless tie last week and lost a 1-0 cliffhanger to a tough Monta Vista squad.
Seniors Laura Phan and Christina Ignacio and sophomore Ashley Mason are top returners from a Homestead team that posted a 19-3 overall record a year ago.
Phan, a forward, was the league's most valuable player in 2000 and she was joined on the all-league first team by Ignacio, a defender.
Mason was named the league's most valuable goalkeeper as just a freshman at Homestead last season.
Junior midfielders Aliza Elbert and Dianna Massey are other top returners this winter for the Mustangs along with sophomore stopper Jessica Gates and soph sweeper Ruchi Nandu.
Junior transfer Dana Mahlfelder and freshman Katie Wilcox are a pair of talented midfielders, each in their first season on the Homestead varsity.
Boys look strong
The Homestead boys have three returning all-leaguers leading the charge this winter as they set out to contend for another De Anza Division crown.
Comesana is cautiously optimistic as his Mustangs enter league play. He rates Palo Alto and Gunn as the division title favorites and figures his own club for a third-place finish.
Senior midfielder Shadi Hawawini and junior midfielder Brian Oliveira each return to the field for the Mustangs after winning all-league first-team honors last winter, and senior fullback Samuel Krow-Local is back after claiming an all-league second-team spot.
Joining the three solid returners are newcomers Justin Bocchino, a senior midfielder, Jan Hejret, a junior forward, and Efrain Solorio, a freshman midfielder.
The Mustangs, who posted a 14-7-7 season record last year, are off to a 4-4-2 start this year and are 1-1 in league play after blanking Lynbrook 3-0 last week.
Passes from senior fullback Scott Alexander and Oliveira set up Hawawini for the game's first goal, and Hejret made it 2-0 at the half when he scored off an Oliveira assist.
The Mustangs capped the win when Scott Roos scored off a Bocchino assist.
Matador girls win
The Monta Vista girls soccer team is off to a winning start in the 2000-01 season.
The Matadors are 8-0-1 for the year and 3-0-1 in the De Anza Division after beating Los Altos 3-1 and Homestead 1-0 last week.
And the good start comes as no surprise to head coach Dawn Hill.
"We have nine returning starters and seven seniors to lead the team," said Hill. "I think we will have a very good season."
She picks St. Francis and Gunn as the title favorites in the division, but ranks her own Matadors right up there among the leaders.
"We have one of the best players in the league in Yvonne Bailey, who should help our team once again this year," said the coach.
Bailey, a senior center midfielder, was the junior of the year in the division last winter, and she returns this season along with talented seniors Veronica Noone, Kimberly Vincent and Katie Fyall.
Noone, a defender, and Fyall, a midfielder, were each all-league first-team picks last year and Vincent was the goalkeeper of the year for two straight seasons.
Defenders Jessica Li and Elizabeth DeiRossi and midfielder Katie Toll are other top returning seniors.
Freshman midfielder Angela Nunez and sophomore striker Arielle Nugent are top young prospects in the Monta Vista camp.
Juniors Nina Findley and Kimberly Butler, sophs Helena Martins and Shadi Lanham and freshman Nicole Ley round out the talented Monta Vista squad this winter.
Lanham and Bailey each had a goal and an assist and Noone scored a goal for the Matadors in the 3-1 win over Los Altos last week.
Nunez took a pass from Bailey to drill home the game's only goal in Friday's 1-0 win over Homestead.
Boys win, too
Mehraun Amirkiai and Hourmanesh drove home two goals apiece to lead the Monta Vista boys to a 4-1 win over Cupertino in El Camino Division play last week.
Amirkiai and Hourmanesh had each scored goals earlier in the week, but the Mats had fallen 4-2 to Los Altos.
Monta Vista is now 2-2 in league play and 2-9 for the year.
Pioneers fall
Ryan Hutchinson scored the lone goal for Cupertino in the loss to Monta Vista last week. The loss dropped the Pioneers to 0-2-1 in division play.
But first-year head coach Jeff Panos is hoping to see his Cupertino squad turn things around in a hurry and contend for a first-division finish in the El Camino circuit this winter.
"After losing 10 seniors to graduation, this year's team is young, fast and looking for instant respect," said Panos.
Senior midfielder Christian Cifuentes returns for his fourth varsity season at Cupertino, and he's joined by junior keeper Brian Emery, sophomore sweeper Mervin Pan and soph midfielder David Tanton as returning lettermen.
Junior forwards Mike Vance and Justin DeOliveira were both all-leaguers on the junior varsity squad last season, and senior defender Bijan Shamirza is a top varsity prospect this year.
German transfer Tim Lahme, a senior midfielder, "figures to strengthen the attack," said Panos, and the coach is also high on sophomore goalkeeper Chris Campbell and soph forward Patrick Murray, both up from the JVs, and freshman midfielders Tuan Nguyen and Billy Garcia.
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Cupertino, California Since 1947
