BAY AREA BLUE BLOODS TO MEET IN BOYS D-I SEMIFINALS
Following a couple of upsets, two of the Bay Area’s most successful boys soccer programs will meet in Concord on Thursday.
Sixth-seeded De La Salle went to Edison-Fresno and came away with a 2-0 victory thanks to second-half goals by Nick De Martini and playmaking No. 10 Ronan Rattigan.
The Concord program will play host to seventh-seed Bellarmine, who pulled off an upset of its own on Tuesday night.
The Bells took down No. 2 Franklin-Elk Grove by a score of 1-0, with Ben Sutton taking a Matthew Shimizu pass in the 48th minute and burying the shot.
The Bellarmine defense took over from there.
“We tried a different style against Franklin, and our players responded extremely well, all of our backline stayed disciplined and were never caught out of position,” Bells coach Conor Salcido told the Bay Area News Group. “Drew McClelland, our goalie, made some really solid saves too.”
Bellarmine bounced back from a disappointing 4-2 loss to Everett Alvarez in the CCS final. Meanwhile, the Spartans rebounded from a 2-1 loss in the North Coast Section Division I championship to Dougherty Valley.
While DLS left the quarterfinals unscathed, the same could not be said for top-seeded Dougherty.
The Wildcats lost 3-1 to No. 8 Davis.
O’DOWD GIRLS STUN TOP-SEEDED DEL ORO
Playing at No. 1 seed Del Oro, Bishop O’Dowd’s girls were not phased by the pressure of penalty kicks after the teams had played 100 scoreless minutes in the girls D-I playoff game.
Abby Forsgen, Kiana Lee Olson, Rylie Pintard, Katelyn Wong and Arianna Brennan each stepped up to the spot and buried their shots into the back of the net for the Oakland school.
Dragons junior goalkeeper Parker Bridgeman was able to stop one shot by Del Oro, and clinch Bishop O’Dowd’s semifinal trip to Archbishop Mitty.
MOUNTAIN VIEW SCHOOLS ADVANCE
On a night where top seeds fell like trees during logging season, No. 2 seed St. Francis blanked No. 7 Folsom 3-0 in the girls Division I bracket to secure a game against No. 6 Amador Valley.
St. Francis sophomore Miliani Makasini got things started in the 10th minute when she placed home a shot on an assist by Kamryn Rosa.
In the 53rd minute, Brooklyn O’Brien dished a pass to freshman Kiyomi Yoshimura for an insurance goal. Finally, in the 64th minute, Penelope Correa Mason blasted a rocket of a free kick past the keeper to give the Lancers one more goal just for good measure.
Sophia Malloy, a freshman goalkeeper, kept a clean sheet for St. Francis.
Over in the boys Division II bracket, second seed Mountain View eliminated No. 7 Vista del Lago 3-1, with the Spartans scoring all three goals in the first half.
Brayden Graham scored twice to pace Mountain View, and Akshay Chugh also scored a goal. Coach Jim McGuirk told the Bay Area News Group that “Nikoc Dekovic and Aksel Aderman played really well in the center of the field.”
The Spartans will face No. 3 seed Clayton Valley Charter, which routed Roseville 4-0.
Mason Firbley and Alexander Hernandez each scored once, and Walter Galindo scored twice for CVC. Giovanni Negrette assisted two goal-scorers, and Lucas Jara and Roman Mahmood each had one assist.
CASTLEMONT DISQUALIFIED FROM NORCAL
Castlemont won the Oakland Section title, but will not participate in NorCal. In a statement posted on the team’s Instagram page, the Knights said “Due to an inquiry submitted to the OAL Board regarding our roster eligibility, a decision has been made that forces us to forfeit our participation in this year’s State Regional Championship.”
STOPPAGE TIME SHOTS
The Leland girls lost to Marin Academy 2-1 in a painful loss. Coach Stephanie Bloom said that her Chargers conceded the winner with just two minutes left in overtime. Annika park scored Leland’s only goal. … Sacred Heart Prep’s girls made short work of Sonoma Valley in Division IV. Lauryn Masetti scored twice and Lewa White, Grace Rocha and Isabelle Gonzalez each scored once for SHP in the 5-0 victory. … Across the street, rival Menlo School showed why it was the top seed in girls Division III with a 1-0 victory over Sonoma Academy. Everleigh Porter scored the winning goal and goalkeeper Bianca Putanec kept her seventh shutout of the season. … In the boys D-V bracket, the lower seed won every match. No. 5 Piedmont took down No. 4 Orland 1-0. … In girls D-II, seventh seeded St. Ignatius travelled to Roseville and got the 1-0 victory.