Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Sports

Wildcats, Lancers play for CCS championship

By Kevin Sparrer

The tension was running high and the game was on the line when the Los Gatos girls soccer team battled Carlmont down to the wire in the Central Coast Section Division I semifinals.

The Wildcats, though, were equal to the task.

The Cats and Scots battled to a 1-1 tie after regulation play and overtime, but the Wildcats won in a shootout thanks to four Gatos girls netting their shots and to the senior goal keeper Tiffany Irizarry coming through with two saves to put Los Gatos over the top.

"[Irizarry] came up with two awesome saves to push the Wildcats on to the final round of two against St. Francis," said Jan Eric Nordmo, the head coach for Los Gatos.

Scoring the penalty kicks in the shootout were Rachel Comeau, Kelly Hoose, Taylor Comeau and Brianne Medved.

Los Gatos actually trailed 1-0 in regulation at the end of the first half, but Madeline Kevorkian came on hard and scored an unassisted goal for the Cats at the 54-minute mark to tie the game.

The Cats had Carlmont on the run for most of the game, firing off 12 shots and only allowing three from the Scots.

Los Gatos also led with seven corners while only giving Carlmont three. The Scots also had 13 fouls in the game while Los Gatos had 12.

The win advances the Los Gatos season record to 14-8-2 and pushes the Wildcats into the CCS Division I championship game that was scheduled to be played on Feb. 23, but was postponed due to the weather.

Instead, Los Gatos, No. 5 seed entering the tournament, will face No. 2 St. Francis on Feb. 27 at Valley Christian at 4:30 p.m.

St. Francis is entering the CCS championship game with an overall record of 18-4-4. The Lancers have defeated two teams in the CCS playoffs already and only allowed one goal. On Feb. 21, the Lancers defeated No. 3 Monta Vista (11-5-5) in the semi-final round 2-0 after downing No. 10 Leland (13-8-2) in the quarterfinals 3-1.

St. Francis finished second in the West Catholic Athletic League behind Mitty with a 9-1-4 record during the regular season.

In fact, St. Francis and the Cats met earlier in the year with the Lancers coming out on top 2-1 on Dec. 21.