Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Los Gatos senior forward Zach Pine (13), battling for the ball in a game against Lynbrook, was named to the honorable mention list on the boys' all-Central Coast Section soccer team.

Big year in Los Gatos soccer

LG's Caro, Wallis, Leigh's Patterson play in Germany

By Dick Sparrer

Graduation will hit the Los Gatos girls' soccer team hard this spring.

The Wildcats will lose three talented all-league performers, including the senior of the year in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, Melissa Schmidt.

But don't worry too much about Los Gatos. The Wildcats will be all right--Marcia Wallis and company will see to that.

Because while all-league seniors Schmidt, Lauren Proctor and Erika Duggins will be lost to graduation, Wallis tops a list of four all- leaguers who will be back on the field for the Cats again next winter.

What's more, three of the four all-leaguers were named to the all-Central Coast Section squad.

Wallis, a talented forward who scored 23 goals and added 11 assists last season, was named the junior of the year on the CCS squad this season after being named to the prestigious all-CCS first team.

Junior forward Amie Salfen and junior midfielder Stacey Caro were named to the all-CCS second team.

Schmidt, Wallis and Meghan Kirby-McFarland also won special honors on the all-league team for their outstanding efforts in the winter season.

Schmidt was named the senior of the year on the all-league squad. Wallis was selected the junior of the year, and Kirby-McFarland was picked the freshman of the year. Schmidt and Kirby-McFarland, a freshman defender, were also tabbed to the all-CCS honorable mention list.

Proctor and Duggins, a pair of senior defenders, were named to the all-league first team along with Salfen and Caro.

Leigh's Emily Patterson, a junior midfielder, and Kassie Doubrava, a sophomore forward, joined Salfen and Caro on the all-CCS second team.

Patterson was selected as the most valuable midfielder in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. Teammate Dani Juarez was named the league's co-most valuable goalkeeper. Juarez, a junior, was also tabbed to the all-CCS honorable mention list.

Doubrava, Dezi Corey Lamirato and Lynsey Gahl were other Leigh players named to the all-league first team.

Playing on

Three of the local players honored on the all-CCS and all-league charts are still playing soccer, but now at the international level.

Caro and Wallis of Los Gatos and Patterson of Leigh were selected to play for the United States Olympic Development Western Regional Team in Bitburg, Germany, on April 1-12.

The three high school juniors were selected from a field of players from 20 states to earn places on the under-17 team. The squad was to play four matches against German women's Division I teams that would include players from the German National Team.

Record setter

Caro was a record setter for the Wildcats in the recently completed season. The junior standout led the squad with a school record 18 assists in the 1997-98 season, and she set a school single-game-assist record with five in the first half against Saratoga in the Wildcats' league opener. Caro also had eight assists for the Cats.

Pine on CCS list

Zach Pine of Los Gatos earned a place on the honorable mention list on the boys' all-CCS team. Pine was a senior forward for the Wildcats.

Frosh-soph win title

Not only does the future look bright in girls' soccer at Los Gatos, but it's glowing pretty good in boys' soccer, as well.

The Wildcats won the Mt. Hamilton Division championship, finishing two points ahead of runnerup Palo Alto in the final standings.

The Cats, led by head coach Nick Hoffman, a former Gatos player, rolled up an 8-1-3 record in the division to finish the season with 27 points. Paly was second, 8-3-1, with 25 points.

Palo Alto made things interesting with a 1-0 win over Los Gatos in the final week of the league season, but the Wildcats closed out the season in style with a 2-0 win over Monta Vista to clinch the crown.

Sophomore midfielder Ben Frazier and soph forward John Dyson scored goals off assists from freshman midfielder Gavilan Hernandez and soph midfielder Don Hilliker in the title-clinching win.

Hilliker and Hernandez shared the team scoring lead with 25 points apiece. Hilliker, the team's most valuable player, led the squad with nine assists and also knocked in eight goals, and Hernandez, the team's co-captain, topped the Cats with 11 goals and he added three assists.

Dyson and Frazier also figured among the team scoring leaders. Dyson had six goals and four assists to finish with 16 points for the Wildcats, and Frazier had five goals and three assists to end up with 13 points.

Sophomore forward/midfielder Brian Penkoff was named the team's most inspirational player, and freshman defender Mike Vynal was the most improved player. Soph defender Gavin Wherry was a co-captain.

Sophomores Greg Blevins and Jon Starrett shared the goalkeeping for the Wildcats, and each one was outstanding in the net. Blevins allowed less than a goal a game (0.824) over seven games and recorded three shutouts for the Cats. Starrett allowed just 0.462 goals per game over three games, and he finished with two shutouts.

Soph midfielder Chris Manganello and freshman forward Forrest Wernick had two goals apiece for the Cats, and Penkoff, Blevins and freshman midfielder Russ Martin had one each.

Sophomore midfielder Kevin Carney and freshman forward Matt Bates each added three assists, Penkoff had two, and Starrett, Vynal, sophomore forward Rory Quick, Martin, Wherry and soph defender Alex Toy added one each.

Sophomore defenders Yale Proctor and Brandon Wooley, freshman midfielders Jeff Hoeft and Bobby James and freshman defender Luke Felix were other members of the championship frosh-soph team.

Final Mt. Hamilton Division frosh-soph soccer standings: (1) Los Gatos, 8-1-3, 27 points; (2) Palo Alto, 8-3-1, 25 points; (3) Milpitas, 6-4-2, 20 points; (4) Saratoga, 4-4-4, 16 points; (5) Monta Vista, 4-6-2, 14 points; (6) Los Altos, 3-6-3, 12 points; (7) Homestead, 0-11-1, 1 point.

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