Photograph by Douglas Rider

Cupertino's Jessie Frink (5) battles for the soccer ball in a 7-1 win over Robert Louis Stevenson last weekend. The Pioneers now advance to the CCS Division III semifinals.

Pioneers in CCS soccer semifinals

Cupertino opens with big 7-1 win

By DICK SPARRER

Katey Slivinske wants to go a championship girls soccer game this weekend.

But the Cupertino senior doesn't want to go as a spectator. She's hoping that she and her 'Tino teammates will go to Saturday's Central Coast Section Division III championship game as competitors.

Cupertino took the first step towards that title game with a lopsided 7-1 win over Robert Louis Stevenson in the first round of the CCS playoffs last weekend.

The Pioneers now face Redwood Christian in the semifinals on Feb. 20, 4:30 p.m., at Wilcox High School with the winner advancing to the CCS Division III finals on Feb. 24, 10 a.m., at San Jose PAL Stadium.

But the road to get there is not an easy one. The Pioneers, 16-2-1 for the year, must beat Redwood (13-3-3) on Tuesday. The Eagles are coming off a solid 3-2 win over the San Lorenzo Valley.

The Tuesday winner will advance to the CCS finals on Saturday morning against the winner of the Presentation-Santa Cruz semifinal game.

The same day Redwood was turning back SLV, Cupertino was destroying Stevenson 7-1.

Slivinske, Jessie Anden, Kelly Cumine, Kristen Hayford and Jessica Frink all scored for the Pioneers in the win, but it was Anden and Cumine really leading the assault for 'Tino.

Anden knocked in three goals and handed out an assist and Cumine had a goal and two assists for the Cupertino in the easy win.

Cumine actually got the Pioneers going early when she scored off a Susan Puccinelli assist in the first half.

Stevenson also scored a first-half goal, but before the Pirates could get to the sanctity of the locker room at intermission, the Pioneers had run up a 4-1 lead.

Slivinske knocked in an unassisted goal and Hayford scored on a penalty kick to up the Cupertino lead, then Anden scored off a Cumine assist to make it 4-1 at the break.

In the second half, Anden took over the game. Her assist set up Frink for a goal, then Anden scored two goals to cap the scoring and help the Pioneers secure the victory.

The Homestead girls, meanwhile, opened the CCS Division I tournament with an impressive 2-0 win over Menlo-Atherton, but the Mustangs were eliminated in the quarter-final round 1-0 by Aptos last Saturday. The Mustangs ended the year with a 12-6-4 season record.

Freshman midfielder Katie Wilcox scored off a Laura Phan assist to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead at the half against M-A, then junior midfielder Aliza Ebert added an insurance goal in the second half to help Homestead clinch the first-round win.

Phan, a senior forward, had the assist on Ebert's goal, too.

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