Los Gatos Weekly-Times Los Gatos girls, boys edge Los Altos 2-1 By Dick Sparrer They were on different fields in opposite ends of the Santa Clara Valley, but otherwise things were pretty similar for the Los Gatos varsity soccer teams last Tuesday. Because while the Gatos boys were scoring two second-half goals in Los Altos to beat the Eagles 2-1, the girls were back home in Los Gatos scoring a couple of goals in the second half to knock off Los Altos by a matching 2-1 score. But that's where the similarities ended for the Gatos boys and girls last week. Because the girls went on to pound Saratoga 5-2 for a perfect week in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, but the boys struggled to a 1-1 tie against the Falcons. Senior sensation Amie Salfen knocked in four goals and had two assists to lead the Wildcats to the two wins in girls play last week. The Cats, who had suffered two losses the week before, improved to 4-2-1 in the division with the pair of victories. They are now 9-3-1 for the year as they prepare to host Gunn on Jan. 19 and visit Mountain View on Jan. 21 in a pair of 3:15 p.m. games this week. Los Altos scored in the first half to take a 1-0 lead against the Gatos girls. But Salfen scored off a Sunny Vizzusi assist to tie it, then scored again off a Katy Castenada assist to break the tie and give the Wildcats the 2-1 win. The girls came back strong two days later to crush the Falcons 5-2. Gatos opened up a 3-1 lead by intermission, and scored two more goals in the second half. Sophomore Kristen Fumia scored a goal off a Bethany Peterson assist, and Salfen scored off a Megan Geldman assist to give the Cats the early lead. Freshman Becky May turned passes from co-captains Stacey Caro and Salfen into a goal before the half to give the Cats the 3-1 advantage. But the girls weren't finished yet. Castenada scored off assists from Caro and Salfen, then Salfen scored off a Caro assist to finish off the Falcons. The Gatos boys, meanwhile, started the week off right with the 2-1 win over the Eagles. The clubs played to a scoreless tie in the first half. Los Altos scored a single goal in the second half, but the Wildcats scored twice to pull out the exciting victory. David Ibarra scored off a Jedd Martin assist to give the Cats their first goal of the day, and Ryan Jacobson gave Gatos its game winner when he scored off an assist from Zack Knipe. The loss was the first of the league season for the Eagles. But the Wildcats couldn't make it two straight. They could only manage a tie against Saratoga later in the week. Martin scored a second-half goal off an assist from Ibarra, but it only matched a second-half goal by the Falcons. The win and tie left the Cats 2-2-2 in the De Anza Division and 4-3-5 for the year. Soccer Stars Soccer standouts Ben Frazier, Don Hilliker and Jordan Stuhlmueller, all members of the Gatos boys varsity, have been invited to attend tryouts at the state camp for the under-18 Olympic Development Program state team in March. The three Wildcats participated in CYSA preliminary tryouts in September and October, and will move on to state tryouts in the spring. Stuhlmueller is a senior goalkeeper for the Wildcats this winter, and Frazier and Hilliker are each junior midfielders. Wallis to return Marcia Wallis is expected to return to the Los Gatos girls soccer team this week after spending the last few weeks competing at the national level. Wallis was a member of the under-18 national team that competed in Orlando, Fla., over winter break. She was to return home Jan. 5, but was called up to the under-21 national team that was playing in Florida through Jan. 16. Wallis, a four-year member of the California State team and a four-year member of the Western Regional team, has played for national teams at the under-17 and under-18 levels. She was the leading scorer for the Central Valley Mercury under-18 team that won the national title last summer. She also won the Golden Boot award as the leading scorer in the national tournament. Wallis, a senior standout on the Los Gatos girls soccer team, started her high school career at Harbor High in Santa Cruz. She won all-league honors there and broke the school scoring record. She transferred to Los Gatos a year later, and Harbor's loss was certainly Los Gatos's gain. Wallis led all Gatos scorers as a sophomore, and won a spot on the all-league first team. She led the Cats in scoring again as a junior, and was picked the CCS junior of the year. Wallis, who has already accepted a soccer scholarship to Stanford University, boasts a 4.0 grade-point average, and also stars in cross country and golf for the Wildcats. The Gatos star was named to the 1998-99 All-American squad after starring for the Mercury. She was also named to the United States Youth Soccer Association's 1998-99 Academic All-American team. She is one of just four girls from California on the coveted squad. Caro, Pearson sign Los Gatos soccer stars Stacey Caro and Stephanie Pearson join Wallis as Gatos girls who have already accepted college scholarships. Caro will play soccer at the University of San Francisco, and Pearson will play at the University of Hawaii. Caro is a four-time member of the California State team and played a season on the regional team. Pearson, a goalkeeper for the Wildcats, has played for the state team for two years and is a four-time member of the District team. [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, January 20, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.