One down, one to go

A team this good should have the chance to keep playing.

The Strathmore High girls soccer team won its second Valley title in three years when it beat Caruthers 3-1 on Tuesday at Rankin Stadium to win the Division V crown. Now the question is, will the Spartans receive a chance to play in the Southern California State playoffs.

A berth in the Division III SoCal regionals will come down to the Spartans and the Valley Division IV champion. At press time, Fowler was beating Liberty Ranchos, seeded No. 1 in Division IV, 3-2 late in the game. If Fowler hung on, the state berth could possibly come down to Strathmore and Central Valley Christian if CVC wins the Division IV title.

With the SoCal playoffs not beginning until the quarterfinals on March 5, there would be enough time for Strathmore and CVC to go against each other in a play-in game for the state berth if both schools agreed. If both schools didn’t agree on a play-in game, then the Central Section commissioners would pick the team that goes to state.

As far as a play-in game, Strathmore coach Hector Gonzalez was all for it. “I wouldn’t mind an in game,” Gonzalez said. “That would be awesome. I feel we deserve a shot at least. This is an excellent team.”

Strathmore took control in the first five minutes of the game when Andrea Gutierrez sent a beautiful crossing pass to Celeste Navarrete, who pushed the ball in with her thigh to give SHS a 1-0 lead. Nayeli Colunga then took over for the Spartans.

Colunga almost scored on an amazing shot that was a carbon copy of a shot she had in a 4-1 semifinal win over Lindsay, sending a shot from the right side that skimmed off the top of the crossbar.

But Colunga didn’t miss on a her next after Kayla Holloway sent a ball forward to her and Colunga sent a shot from the right side that bounced off the far post and in to make it 2-0.

“I’m going to cross it or I’m going to shoot it,” said Colunga about what she was thinking before the shot. “It was just a great feeling.”

At first glance, Colunga’s next goal appeared to be a fortunate one that was misplayed by Caruthers’ goalie. But the shot went straight up in the air and was coming down just underneath the crossbar, so the goalie didn’t have much of a choice but to back up to the goal line and try to punch it out, which she did, but the ball bounced off of her hands into to the goal to give SHS a 3-0 lead.

“I saw it go up, I was hoping it would go in,” Colunga said. “Once I saw it going down and I saw the goalie back up, I knew it was going in. That was even a great feeling because we went up 3-0.”

Caruthers scored late in the first half to make it 3-1 at halftime. Then in the second half, it was up to players such as Victoria Rutherford and Hailey Tsuboi on defense and the aggressive play of goalie Sasha Garcia to make sure the lead was safe, which they did.

“It feels amazing,” said Colunga about winning Valley. “We’re a great team. We proved it by winning today.”

And for Gonzalez, it was the perfect atmosphere to win a title. “Everybody criticizes our district, but look at this facility,” said Gonzalez about Rankin Stadium. “We get to play in probably the best facility in the Valley for high school sports.”