Oaks Christian will look for a finals sweep in boys’ and girls’ soccer

Teams advance to championship play
on Saturday
By Steve Ames
Special to the Acorn

WE'RE IN-Members of the Oaks Christian boys' soccer team celebrate after a 1-0 victory over Sultana in the Div. V quarterfinals.

March has roared in like the lion for the Oaks Christian High boys’ and girls’ soccer teams. They play in the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Division V championships Saturday for a chance at their first-ever soccer sweep.

Game times for the Oaks Christian teams, representing the Frontier League, will be determined today by the CIF. Games will be played at La Mirada High. Admission gates open at 8:30 a.m. Six games will be played—three boys, three girls at 9 and 11 a.m. and 1, 3, 5 and 7 p.m.

The boys’ opponent will be the Mountain View Vikings of El Monte and the girls will face the Valley Christian Crusaders of Cerritos.

It’s the first time in three years of soccer at Oaks Christian that the boys (14-5-1) will be in the championship game and the third time for the girls (20-2-4), who are looking to take the division title outright this time after being co-champs with the Oak Park Eagles in 2003 and the Notre Dame Knights in 2004.

In the semifinal games on Tuesday, the boys beat the Garden Grove Argonauts of the Garden Grove League, 2-1, and the girls blanked the Granite Hills Cougars of Apple Valley, Desert Sky League, 1-0.

Boys’ head coach Sebastian Alvarado, speaking after the victory over the Argonauts, was pleased with the comeback triumph.

"It was a phenomenal game," he said. "We were down 1-0 after Corey McGuire scored a goal in the 56th minute. You could see in the kids’ eyes they were getting nervous."

At the 73rd minute, senior right fullback Joseph Piligian threw the ball in the box, it bounced, and junior center defender Matthew Morrissette got his foot in the way and the ball went into the net to knot the score at 1-1.

Four minutes later, senior center midfielder Bryan Morales gave the ball to senior forward Stanley Leonard in the box and Leonard took on an opponent and shot it beyond the far post to give Oaks Christian the victory.

"The guys are taking it one step at a time," Alvarado said. "We won in the second round and in double overtime in the quarterfinal (game) and Leonard led the win in that one, too."

The boys advanced to the finals by winning matches over St. Genevieve, Maranatha and Sultana before defeating Garden Grove.

"After our last regular game against Santa Paula, the boys have played together and believed in each other," Alvarado said. "Nobody has expected the boys to be here. These kids believe in themselves. For them to be in the final is really unreal.

"Each year we’ve made it further and further. My goal when I came here four years ago was to establish a program year in and year out. Soccer, Division V, is competitive. Making it to the finals is big time."

The girls out shot their Granite Hills opponents, 11-5, and sophomore center mid Nicole "Nic" Sweetman scored the Lions’ lone goal on an assist from senior outside mid Alena Avedissian with 11 minutes remaining in the game.

Referring to how Sweetman scored, head coach Jan Hethcock said that she marshaled the attack. Freshman midfielder Hannah MacKechnie and senior offense Brianna Cox spread the defense with three on top, leaving the Granite Hills team not knowing who to defend.

"(The Cougars) slid to the outside and put Nic in the middle," Hethcock said. "Alena threw it in and Nic took it on the 35-yard line. When Nic goes to the goal, that’s it. She buried it. She played great offense and defense."

Others turning in strong performances for the OC girls against Granite Hills, their coach said, were UCLA-bound senior midfielder Caitlyn MacKechnie, who controls the goal, freshman sweeper Kelsea Smith, senior right outsider Alexandra Davis, junior left defender Rachel VanGent and junior stopper Brittany Peterson.

Hethcock said the Granite Hills field speed was extremely bumpy. "On a smooth field the chances of scoring would have been a lot better," he said.

Hethcock said he’s confident heading into the finals.

"My kids are in excellent condition," Hethcock said. "We cut practices so they are shorter and give them time for their legs to recoup. We work on foot speed with the ball. This has really helped up the intensity."