Viewpoint girls’ soccer squad dominating Liberty League foes

ADAM DAVIS/Acorn Newspapers ON THE MARCH—Defender Alex Stabler is Viewpoint’s co-captain. The small private school nestled away in the Santa Monica Mountains is putting up some big results in girls’ soccer.

With contributions coming from nearly every person on its 19player roster, the Viewpoint Patriots carried a 10-4 overall record and a 5-0 mark in the Liberty League into yesterday’s match against Milken Community.

Since the conclusion of a difficult preseason schedule that featured losses to Glendora (Div. I), Chaminade (Div. II) and Cerritos (Div. III), the Lady Patriots have been dominant against their Division VI counterparts.

“I thought that going into this year, a tough preseason schedule would really give us some good game experience, especially since our team is so young still,” head coach Travis Kikugawa said.

Mission accomplished.

Since wrapping up its preseason schedule, Viewpoint has reeled off five consecutive league victories. In the process, the Patriots haven’t allowed a single goal to Liberty League competition.

ADAM DAVIS/Acorn Newspapers JUST KICKIN’ IT—Gabriella Capisani practices her dribbling during Tuesday’s practice session at Viewpoint High School. Capisani and the Patriots took on Milken Community yesterday afternoon. “We got off to a little bit of a rough start because of injuries, but things are starting to come together very well,” sophomore midfielder Gabriella Capisani said. “We’re killing teams now. It’s been really good for us.”

Capisani, along with senior defender Taylor Sella and junior defender Alex Stabler, were voted team co-captains at the onset of the season.

Sella is one of only four seniors on the young Patriot roster. She said she took it as a personal challenge to become a vocal leader on and off the field during her final year playing for Viewpoint.

“Being a senior is definitely a hard position to fill because you always want to make sure you’re doing the right things,” Sella said. “At the same time, I have to make sure I’m excelling at my game. But this team definitely depends heavily on the seniors for leadership.”

Whether it’s breaking down game film after a match or going through the rigors of the team’s weekly practice sessions, Stabler said the girls on the squad always give 110 percent, not only for themselves, but for their head coach as well.

“(Playing for Kikugawa) is an amazing thing and a horrible thing,” Stabler said. “There’s a huge responsibility to play at the standards he holds you to. Every game I’m kind of playing for him because he puts so much time and effort into this team. We have an obligation to return that to him.”

So far the coach has seen a first-rate return on his investment.

Kikugawa said the Patriots’ season took a turn for the better immediately following a 2-1 overtime loss to Chaminade.

“We started to have an air of confidence about us once we knew we could be competitive against the bigger schools,” Kikugawa said. “Now it’s like, ‘We should go and take care of business.’ For the (remainder) of league, it’s more mental than it is physical.”

According to sophomore forward Brittany Beisswanger, one of the team’s leading scorers, Viewpoint doesn’t win games because its talent level is superior to the competition. They win because of heart and determination.

“All of the talent is here,” Beisswanger said. “When you combine that with our heart, we’re unstoppable.”

Last season Viewpoint earned a share of the Liberty League championship and advanced to the CIF-SS Division VI quarterfinals before losing to St. Margaret’s.

This year, armed with the stout goaltending combination of Michelle Lesser and Brittany Golob, a defense that’s been impenetrable at times and an opportunistic offense, the Lady Patriots hope to win the league title outright and surpass last season’s postseason results.

“We went pretty far last year considering what we had,” Sella said. “That was almost all because of heart.

“But now we have the talent to back it up,” Sella said. “My thinking is if we went as far as we did last year, we can go even further this time.”

Regardless of what happens during the rest of the season, Kikugawa said Viewpoint now has enough young talent to become a dominant program for years to come.

“We’re going to win a CIF championship,” Kikugawa said. “It’s just a matter of time.”