Photograph by Robert Scheer
Midfielder Ryan Nyquist of Los Gatos plays tough defense against Mike Peterson of Prospect in CCS playoff action. The Wildcats upset the Panthers 2-1 to advance in the playoffs.
By Dick Sparrer
Homestead may have won the league soccer title in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League this season.
But if you ask the soccer players at Los Gatos if they care right about now, the answer would a resounding and unanimous, "No!"
Because where are the Mustangs right now? They're at home after losing 5-1 to Watsonville in the second round of the Central Coast Section Division I boys' soccer playoffs.
And where are the Wildcats? They're busy preparing for the CCS Division II semifinals.
The Cats may have finished second in their division in the regular season, but they're still in the running for a championship--a Central Coast Section championship.
Gatos opened the CCS playoffs with a 2-1 upset win over Prospect, and the Cats came back last weekend with a tight 2-1 win over King City to move into the CCS semifinals on Feb. 20 against Willow Glen.
The Wildcats, now 10-7-4 for the year and the No. 7 seed in the tournament, were to face the No. 3-seeded Rams, 14-3-1, at 5 p.m. Tuesday at San Jose PAL Stadium. The winner will advance to the CCS title game on Feb. 24, 12:30 p.m., at PAL against the winner of the Burlingame (13-3-3)-Pioneer (12-7-4) game.
It took a pair of playoff wins to get the Wildcats to the semifinals, and the Cats posted the victories with a couple of carbon copy performances.
Gatos was down 1-0 at the half in each of the two games, but both times came back with game-tying and game-winning goals in the second half to claim the back-to-back victories.
Grant Kollenborn's goal off a Joel Gremore assist helped the Cats tie Prospect 1-1 in the first playoff game. Nick Hoffman later snapped the tie when he took a pass from Steve Allan and knocked it home for what would prove the game-winner.
The win pushed Los Gatos into the CCS quarterfinals against a King City team that had lost only twice this season.
But Gatos stuck King City with its third loss of the year and eliminated the Mustangs from the competition with another come-from-behind victory.
King City scored in the first half to lead 1-0 at intermission, but the Cats tied it in the second half when J.D. Ross scored off a Carlos Velez assist.
Nick Sorich broke the tie when he scored the game-winner off an Andy Pierce assist and the Wildcats were on their way to the semifinals.
Sorich, Allan, Velez and Pierce make up the talented front line for the Wildcats this season with Kollenborn, Ross and Gremore starring in the midfield along with Ryan Nyquist, Daniel Calandrino, Andre Albuquerque and Kevin Lin.
Defenders Dan Cuschieri, Kyle Jacobson, Nick Hoffman, Walker Pearce-Percy, Mark Tumason and Alan Rosa are tough on the back line and Nik Radonich and Hendro Freeman handle the goalkeeper chores.
Los Gatos is making its second straight CCS appearance.
Longhorns fall
The Leigh boys, meanwhile, lost 4-0 to Sequoia in the first round of the CCS Division I tournament. The Longhorns finished the year with a 9-5-3 season record.
Collision course
The Los Gatos and Leigh girls appear headed on a collision course for a CCS championship date--that is, if Leland and Menlo-Atherton cooperate this week.
The Wildcats, 22-0-1, opened the CCS Division I playoffs with back-to-back wins over Woodside and Monta Vista, and the Longhorns, 15-2-3, pounded Oak Grove 5-1.
Both teams will be in action at PAL Stadium on Feb. 22 in CCS semifinal games. The Cats take on Leland (13-7-2) at 5 p.m. and the Longhorns battled Menlo-Atherton (17-4-1) at 7 p.m. The winners will advance to the CCS Division I title game on Feb. 24, 3 p.m., at PAL.
The Wildcats, chasing a third straight CCS Division I championship, opened the playoffs with a pair of convincing victories. The Cats crushed Woodside 7-0 and blasted Monta Vista 5-0 to advance to the semi's.
Sophomore Melissa Schmidt knocked in a pair of goals and senior co-captain Stacey Mallison and junior standouts Anne Zuparko and Stephanie Lappen each had a goal and an assist to lead the Cats to the lopsided 7-0 win over Woodside.
Tyler Holcomb and Kim Fredkin added goals for the Gatos in the win and Natalie Stuhlmueller chipped in with a pair of assists. Amie Salfen and Adrianne Busi also had assists in the victory.
Los Gatos backed up that 7-0 win with a 5-0 victory over Monta Vista to drop the Matadors out of postseason play.
Stuhlmueller, Mallison, Salfen, Busi and Tessa Donnelly all got in on the scoring in the win over Monta Vista last weekend.
Sweeper Amy White, a senior co-captain, fullbacks Christie Filice and Lauren Proctor and goalkeeper Carrie Walsh are other top players for the Wildcats, along with Giselle Sylvester, Stacey Caro, Kelly Lumby and Stephanie Pearson.
Leigh, meanwhile, drew a first-round bye in the playoffs, then crushed Oak Grove 5-1 to advance to the semifinals.
Rochelle Ouchi and Emily Patterson each knocked in a pair of goals and Lauren Gellman added one goal to lead the Longhorns to the important victory.
Patterson and Gellman each had a pair of assists for Leigh.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, February 21, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved