Division I Boys
No. 3 Archbishop Mitty 2, No. 1 St. Francis 0: Mitty coach Cesar Sanchez couldn’t help but smile when his team dumped purple Gatorade on him after the Monarchs beat rival St. Francis to capture the CCS Division I section title.
The two teams were tied at nil until the second half when Jaxson Bettencourt scored on a corner kick pass from Manuel Portillo to put Mitty up 1-0 in the 61st minute.
10 minutes later, Mitty whipped the ball around the penalty box until it found sophomore Isaac Castillo who shot a laser into the left side of the goal. The shot ended up being the dagger for Mitty as it cruised to the CCS Division I title
St. Francis came into the game as the favorites to win Saturday’s game, having beaten Mitty 3-0 earlier in the season and tying with them just over a month ago.
“You see the improvement of this team,” Sanchez said. “I think that’s what key in playing the best soccer you can at this time of the year.”
Mitty won its second CCS title in three years, having captured the Division IV title over Woodside in 2022.
The Archbishop Mitty soccer team get their photo taken after winning thier California Interscholastic Federation Central Coach Section Division 1 boy soccer championship game 2-0 against Saint Francis High at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Calif., on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
Archbishop Mitty’s Guiseppe Sigala (14) holds the California Interscholastic Federation Central Coach Section Division 1 boy soccer trophy as the team celebrates after winning their championship game against Saint Francis High 2-0 at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Calif., on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
Division II girls
No. 6 Homestead 1, No. 1 Mountain View 0: In one of the bigger upsets of any section championship, Jamie Nguyen sent a header off a corner kick into the goal for the game’s only score.
The senior midfielder, who will play in college at the University of Chicago, broke up the scoreless match early in the second half. Sophomore goalie Myley Markley, who had 18 saves, was named Player of the Game.
Mountain View, which finished the season 14-4-4, had won the first two games it had played against Homestead this season, 4-0 and 2-1. The Spartans also finished ahead of Homestead (14-5-2) in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s De Anza Division.
But Homestead gutted it out Saturday despite being short-handed on the bench.
“We didn’t have many subs,” coach Raquel De Jesus said. “We had a lot of injuries.” This was Homestead’s first girls soccer title since 1993, when it beat Los Gatos 2-1 for the CCS D-I crown.
Division III girls
No. 2 Los Gatos 2, No. 1 Piedmont Hills 1, OT: Maci Yannoni scored in the second overtime on an assist from Caitlyn Simons, lifting Los Gatos to the CCS Division III championship.
Los Gatos also got a first-half goal on an assist from Darcy Armstrong on an assist by Simons as the Wildcats went on to celebrate their sixth section championship in program history and first since 2014.
“I am beyond proud of the girls performance and fight throughout the entire season,” Los Gatos coach Jessica Ingram told the Bay Area News Group in an email. “They have stepped up in each CCS match, competing together as a team. Today’s match was no different, with two different players scoring our 2 goals and fighting for each other until the last whistle blown. Piedmont Hills put up a great fight.”
Los Gatos beat seventh-seeded Gilroy and third-seeded Valley Christian to reach the final.
Jaylene Ramos accounted for Piedmont Hills’ goal, which came early in the second half. It evened the score 1-1.
“It was a heartbreaking way to lose the championship game,” Piedmont Hills coach Fred Espinoza said in an email. “But the girls and myself are proud of the season we had.”
Los Gatos improved to 13-6-4. Piedmont Hills fell to 13-8-1.
Division V boys
No. 1 Stevenson 2, No. 2 The King’s Academy 0: Though proud of his team’s effort and their run to the CCS Division V title game, TKA coach Renan Pineda couldn’t help but rue missed chances.
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“If you don’t take your chances, you’ll pay the price,” Pineda told the Bay Area News Group. “We had four clear-cut chances in the first half, and we just didn’t put the goal away. I was thinking that if we won’t put those away, we’ll pay the price. That’s exactly what happened.”
Pineda did say that TKA defender Grant Shanafelt was a big reason the Knights were able to keep the game scoreless in the first half. While the team couldn’t finish, he said Michael Chan deserved praise for creating opportunities for others.
The King’s Academy’s record dropped to 14-5-3.