By Dick Sparrer
Championships never come easy.
But for the Los Gatos girls' soccer team, they certainly come often!
The Wildcats cruised to their third straight league championship last weekend, clinching the crown with a 4-1 win over Mountain View in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
The Cats wrapped up the title despite a bit of a stumble last week. Gatos was tied 1-1 by Los Altos, but came back to whip Palo Alto and Mountain View by matching 4-1 scores to claim the championship.
Los Gatos will put the finishing touches on the league season this week before beginning a quest for a third straight Central Coast Section Division I title.
The Cats were to host Gunn on Feb. 5 and will visit Homestead on Feb. 7 at 3:30 p.m. to close out the regular season.
For seniors Amy White and Stacey Mallison, winning a championship is nothing new. The Cats have won league titles in each of their four years at Los Gatos.
And the two co-captains played major roles on this year's club, White as the squad's sweeper and Mallison in the midfield.
White scored a first-half goal to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead at intermission against Los Altos, but the Eagles tied it in the second half and walked away with a draw.
So far, the tie is the only one Los Gatos recorded this winter. Gatos came back to whip both Paly and Mountain View to improve to 11-0-1 in the division and 18-0-1 for the year.
Mallison knocked in a couple
of goals to drive Los Gatos past Palo Alto.
Junior standout Natalie Stuhl-mueller had a goal and an assist in the win. Freshman Stacey Caro scored a goal and sophomore Lauren Proctor added an assist.
Just a few days later, freshman Amie Salfen drilled two goals and handed out an assist to pace the Cats to a 4-1 win over Mountain View.
Salfen's two goals were set up by Tessa Donnelly assists, and Salfen's assist set up a goal by Mallison. Caro also scored a goal off a Mallison assist.
The Los Gatos boys, meanwhile, could manage just a single goal in two games and had to settle for a tie and a loss in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL.
The Wildcats battled Palo Alto to a scoreless tie before losing a 2-1 heartbreaker to Monta Vista.
A second-half goal by Andy Pierce was all the Wildcats could manage in the loss to the Matadors.
Los Gatos slipped to 5-3-2 in the division with the loss and tie and dropped to 7-7-2 for the year.
Elsewhere, the Leigh girls' soccer team improved to 9-1-1 in division play and to 14-2-2 for the year with wins over Mitty and Independence.
Michelle Laurence and Erica Davila scored goals off assists from senior star Rochelle Ouchi to lead the Longhorns to a 2-1 win over the Monarchs.
Ouchi had a goal and an assist and senior Lauren Gellman handed out two assists to spark the 'Horns to a 5-0 win over the 76ers.
Davila, Jessica Intrator, Heidi Rawson and Susan Patterson also scored goals for the winners and Laurence had an assist.
Leigh sits just a point behind Presentation in the standings in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, February 7, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved