By Dick Sparrer
The Los Gatos girls aren't much for sharing.
So when the Central Coast Section soccer playoffs begin, the Wildcats have no intention of sharing a championship--they're going after sole ownership of the crown.
It was bad enough that Gatos had to share the league title with St. Francis. The Wildcats and Lancers finished in a dead heat in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League with matching 12-2 records.
But as one season ends, another begins--and the Cats are gunning for yet another CCS title.
Los Gatos enters the postseason with a solid 14-2-1 season record. The Cats clinched the co-championship in the division with a back-to-back shutout wins to finish off the regular season.
Los Gatos blanked Palo Alto 2-0 and whitewashed Homestead 4-0 to put some pressure on the Lancers. But St. Francis pounded Los Altos 4-0 to create the first-place tie in the division.
Goals by Marcia Wallis and Giselle Sylvester helped the Cats open the week with the 2-0 win over Paly. Anne Zuparko and Lauren Proctor came through with assists for the Cats.
Wallis gave Los Gatos a 1-0 lead at intermission with a first-half goal and Sylvester added a little insurance in the second half.
Things were a bit easier for Los Gatos in the win over Homestead later in the week. The Wildcats knocked in two goals in the first half and added two more in the second to post the easy win.
Goals by Wallis, Adrianne Busi, Lina Biber-Ferro and Shannon Price keyed the Los Gatos win. Stacey Caro, Kelly Lumby, Christy Filice and Natalie Stuhlmueller supported with assists for the Cats.
Across town, the Leigh girls ended up on both ends of 1-0 decisions, beating Leland on a goal by Emily Patterson before falling 1-0 to Independence.
The split left the Longhorns 7-4-1 in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League and 17-4-1 for the year.
In boys' soccer action, Los Gatos wrapped up the regular season with wins over Los Altos and Homestead to finish 6-3-3 in the De Anza Division and 10-3-3 for the year.
Andy Pierce and Nick Pine each knocked in goals to lead the Cats to a tight 2-1 win over Los Altos to open the week. The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead in the first half and then matched goals with the Eagles in the second half.
Pine's second-half goal off a Ryan Nyquist assist broke up a scoreless tie and lifted Los Gatos to a thrilling 1-0 win over Homestead to close out the week.
Los Gatos had dropped a 3-0 decision to first-place Palo Alto to open the week.
Leigh, meanwhile, got stuck in a bit of a 1-1 rut. The Longhorns played three games last week, and all three ended in 1-1 ties.
A second-half goal by Andy Marvin off a Kelly Gray assist helped Leigh battle from behind to pull out a 1-1 tie against Independence.
Rooz Tahamtanzadeh drilled a second-half goal to drive the Longhorns to a 1-1 draw with Valley Christian.
Leigh finished the regular season with a 1-1 tie against Independence. Hector Sorto scored off a Marvin assist in the first half, but the 76ers came back with a second-half goal to tie the game.
Leigh wrapped up the regular season with a 7-1-4 record in the Mt. Hamilton Division and a 13-3-6 record overall.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, February 19, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.