But this season it was back to familiar post-season territory for the Mustangs, as both teams earned at-large berths in Division I tournaments. And both teams turned in fine performances last week before they were ousted from further competition.

The boys, seeded 13th after finishing a strong second to Cupertino in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League's El Camino Division, gave No. 4 seed Bellarmine all it could handle before yielding a late second-half goal and falling 1-0 on Feb. 16.

The girls, who before last year had not missed a post-season date since 1998, proved to be a worthy No. 6 seed by whipping Alisal of Salinas, 4-2, on the road. However, they bowed out Feb. 19 to powerful No. 3 seed St. Francis, 7-0, at Santa Clara High.

Homestead, one of four Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division girls teams to reach the play-offs, finished with an 8-8-4 record. In the first-round win at Alisal, Michelle Grabau scored one goal and had two assists and Katie Kimure had one goal and one assist.

Meanwhile, in the Division III girls bracket for the third year in a row, The King's Academy received a first-round bye before losing a quarterfinal match, 1-0 to Harbor of Santa Cruz.

Coach Colin Corstorphine's Knights battled without the services of two injured players, junior forward Claire Gill and sophomore defender Faith Tucker. The Knights ended with an overall record of 14-4-3.

Coach Luis Comesana said the Homestead boys outplayed the host Bells for much of the game. "We were all over those guys," he exclaimed, "and we had a couple of chances to score."

Senior Craig Moberg's header bounced off a goal post early in the first half. Moberg had a breakaway opportunity in the second half, but it ended when he accidentally stepped on the ball.

Meanwhile, Bellarmine could not dent Homestead's defense until less than 10 minutes remained in the game. "The team was solid for 80 minutes," Comesana said, "but in the last 10 they were able to catch Dan Gossard, our keeper, off of his line and convert."

Senior midfielders Jason Anthony and Justin Hall and junior "stopper" Matt Nelson were key defenders in front Gossard, who made four saves.

"Anthony was superb at defending and attacking," Comesana praised. "He was all over the field. He was the heart of the team-a great leader!"

Nelson, who won several balls in the air, did a good job clearing the ball away from the Homestead goal, and senior midfielder John Voss was superb at moving the ball ahead to the forwards.

The Homestead boys finished the season with an overall record of 10-7-4.