Saratoga News

Panthers are in soccer playoffs

Girls' and boys' teams each earn CCS berths

By Dick Sparrer

The weather wasn't all that much better last week than it's been in recent weeks in the Santa Clara Valley. It was good enough, though, for area high school soccer teams to finish up their league seasons.

But then, it had to be--because the leagues are entering Central Coast Section play this week, and they had to determine where they stood in the regular season before they could figure out which teams would advance to the postseason.

They did, and the Prospect girls' and boys' soccer teams have each earned CCS berths for a second straight year.

The Prospect girls clinched a spot in CCS after winning the title in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. The Panthers blanked Westmont, Overfelt and Pioneer in three games last week to wrap up the league season with a 10-0-4 record.

Prospect, 15-2-4 for the year, will open play in the CCS Division II quarter-finals as the No. 3 seed. The Panthers will face No. 6 seed Los Gatos (15-2-2) on Feb. 21 at the Morgan Hill Sports Complex.

Earlier in the week, the Prospect boys will take on Woodside in the CCS Division I playoffs. The Panthers (10-7-6) are the No. 8 seed and were set to take on the Wildcats (10-2-3) on Feb. 17.

Prospect battled Pioneer and Leland right down to the wire in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the BVAL, only to come up a point short.

The Panthers upset defending CCS champ Pioneer 1-0 last week to make a race of it in the final week of the season. Josh Anderson scored off assists from Greg Ortiz and Tony Chang to lead Prospect to the tight win.

The victory left the Panthers with a 5-3-4 record and 14 points in league play. But Pioneer came back to tie Lincoln 3-3 later in the week to finish with a 5-2-5 record and 15 points, and Leland ended up 6-3-3 with 15 points.

Prospect girls win

The Prospect girls won it all in the Santa Teresa Division, though. Wins over Westmont (3-0), Overfelt (7-0) and Pioneer (4-0) helped the Panthers wrap up the league championship last week.

Lindsay Spanek, Trisha Pesiri and Nicole Kiyama knocked in goals, and Mariko Yoshihara and Christina Kandah each had assists in Prospect's 3-0 win over Westmont to open the week.

The Panthers came back a few days later to bomb Overfelt 7-0. Kristel Munch buried two goals, and Spanek had a goal and two assists for the winners.

Kandah, Brianne Copes, Sarah Yarnall and Ashley Bulik added goals for the Panthers, and Yoshihara and Kiyama each had assists.

Prospect finished off an undefeated league season with a 4-0 win over Pioneer late last week. Spanek and Yoshihara popped two goals apiece for the winners, and Pesiri, Munch, Copes and Marlyn Radevic dished off assists.

Winning the division title couldn't have come as much of a surprise for Prospect coach Jason Potmesil, who predicted a championship for the Panthers before the season ever began.

"We should do very well this season, as we are returning 16 players from last year's team," he said as he predicted a first-place finish for his squad. And why not? After all, the Panthers had finished second in the division the year before.

Falcons above .500

The Saratoga girls didn't make it to the CCS playoffs, but they did finish the season over the .500 overall.

The Falcons wrapped up the year with a loss and a couple of ties in the final week of the season in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, but they still managed to hang on for a 9-7-4 record overall.

Saratoga was 4-6-4 in the division, though, well off the pace set by St. Francis (12-0-2) and Los Gatos (11-1-2).

The Falcons finished off the year by battling Gunn to a 1-1 tie, thanks to a second half goal by freshman Jenni Cohen off an assist from Tiffany Frame, another freshman.

Saratoga had lost 2-0 to league champ St. Francis earlier in the week. The Falcons had opened the week by fighting Mountain View to a scoreless tie.

Saratoga coach John Richer, like Prospect's Potmesil a year ago, has reason to be optimistic as he looks ahead to next year, though. The Falcons lose only four seniors off this year's team that included five freshmen and seven sophomores.

Seniors Kathy Aanenson, Ashley Babb, Kristen Fellner and Ashleigh Gaynor will be the only Saratoga players lost to graduation this spring.

Warriors lose two

The Westmont girls finished the regular season with a pair of losses to wind up 3-8-3 in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL.

Laura Gurney knocked in a second-half goal, but it wasn't enough for the Warriors in a 3-1 loss to Del Mar. The Dons had scored a goal in the first half, then popped two in the second half to secure the victory.

Westmont had lost 2-0 to Pioneer earlier in the week.

Falcons upset Mustangs

In other local boys' soccer action, Saratoga upset playoff-bound Homestead in the final week of the regular season.

The Falcons all but ended any hopes Homestead had of winning the championship in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League with a tight 3-2 win over the Mustangs to open the week.

Senior midfielder Elliott Jones had a goal and two assists to lead the Falcons to the thrilling victory. Peter Flobecker and Hans Ebner also scored in the win for Saratoga, and Alex Shoor handed out an assist.

The Falcons lost 3-0 to Milpitas later in the week, though, to wrap up the league season with a 2-9-1 record. Saratoga was 3-13-2 for the year.

Warriors fall

The Westmont boys dropped two of three games last week to finish play in the West Valley Division of the BVAL with a dismal 3-7-2 record.

The Warriors edged San Jose Academy 2-1 to open the week, but they were blanked 4-0 by Yerba Buena and 4-0 by Gunderson to close out the regular season.

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