By Dick Sparrer
Seniors rule!
High school students have been making that claim for decades.
But the seniors on the Westmont girls' soccer team proved there just might be some truth to that claim in a couple of games last week in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.
Four seniors combined for nine goals and nine assists in a pair of 8-0 Westmont wins over Silver Creek and Overfelt.
The Warriors, who just a week earlier had battled division-leading Piedmont Hills to a 1-1 draw, sandwiched the two wins around a 0-0 tie with Pioneer, and they're now 7-2-3 in the division and 10-3-5 for the year.
The two wins and a tie, coupled with Prospect's 2-0 win over Piedmont Hills last week, leaves the Warriors in first place in the division heading into the last week of the regular season.
The Warriors have 17 points with their 7-2-3 record. Prospect is second with 16 points (7-3-2) and Piedmont is third with 15 points (6-2-3).
Seniors Lisa Sanders, Stefanie Klay, Melinda King and Shanon Adams dominated the scoring for the Warriors in the two wins last week.
Sanders had four goals and two assists, Klay added two goals and an assist, King had three goals and two assists and Adams chipped in with four assists.
Sanders knocked in three goals and King had two goals and an assist in the 8-0 win over Silver Creek to open the week. Klay, freshman Krista Johnson and junior Holly Howard also scored goals for the Warriors and Adams and junior Brianne Reichling had assists.
Sanders came back with a goal and two assists, King and Klay each had a goal and an assist and Adams passed out three assists in the 8-0 win over Overfelt.
Freshman Julie Sutorius came through with a pair of goals for the Warriors and sophomores Soya Clapp and Amanda Donaldson and freshman Laura Gurney added a goal each.
A week earlier, Clapp's first-half goal off an Adams assist wasn't enough to lift Westmont to a win, but the Warriors did battle Piedmont Hills to a 1-1 tie.
It marked the second time this winter that the clubs had battled to no decision. The Pirates and Warriors fought to a scoreless tie a couple of weeks back.
Adams had scored unassisted and junior Rita Salgado knocked in a penalty kick a game earlier in Westmont's 2-0 win over Prospect.
Westmont had dropped a tight 3-1 decision to Oak Grove, despite a second-half goal by Donaldson off a Klay assist.
The Warriors need a win over those Eagles this week (Feb. 6, 3:15 p.m. at Westmont) and a victory at Silver Creek on Feb. 8 at 3:15 p.m. to clinch the division title.
Prospect lost 2-0 to Oak Grove last week after pounding Overfelt 8-1 to open the week.
But it was the 2-0 win over Piedmont Hills that was the highlight of the week for the Panthers.
Lisa Pesiri's first-half goal was all the Panthers really needed to claim the victory.
In the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, Saratoga dropped a tight 1-0 nod to St. Francis. The Falcons are 2-5-1 in the division.
Saratoga's boys, meanwhile, pulled out a close 2-1 victory over Milpitas in El Camino Division play.
Johnny Taylor knocked in a first-half goal and Robert Peck scored in the second half to lead the Falcons to the win. Senior Jeff Randesi set up each Saratoga goal with an assist.
The Falcons improved to 5-2-3 in the division and to 6-3-4 for the year with the victory.
Prospect jumped to 7-1-2 in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL with a tight 1-0 win over Mt. Pleasant. Senior midfielder Jeremy Cheatum knocked in a first-half goal for the Panthers, and that turned out to be the difference in the game.
Cheatum scored on a penalty kick and assisted Marco Hernandez on a goal to lift the Panthers to a 2-0 win over Oak Grove earlier in the league season, and goals by Cheatum, Mahad Abdi, Junior Rodriguez and Daniel Heling had sparked the Panthers to a 4-0 win over Yerba Buena. Abdi, Rodriguez and Josh Reed had assists in the victory.
Westmont's boys dropped a tough 1-0 nod to San Jose in the West Valley Division of the BVAL.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, February 7, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved